All is Grace: The Films of Robert Bresson
All is Grace: The Films of Robert Bresson NR. Directed by Robert Bresson. I remember watching introductions to the films of French filmmaker Robert Bresson in which the speaker would make statements like, “What you are about to watch is a perfect film,” or “You are in the hands of a master; if you don’t…
The Sting
The Sting 1973, PG, 129 min. D: George Roy Hill; with Paul Newman, Robert Redford. This template for the modern buddy picture stars a duo who can do little wrong in the eyes of the American public. Altogether, this film about small-time Chicago con men won seven Oscars. If only Scott Joplin were around to…
McCollege Disorientation Tour
McCollege Disorientation Tour NR. Directed by , Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . McCollege Disorientation Tour is a benefit for USA (University of Texas Staff Association) and is underwritten by filmmakers Richard Linklater and Michael Moore, the Austin Film Society, and the Detour Film Foundation. The program consists of Kyle Henry’s University Inc.,…
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 1966, R, 176 min. Directed by Sergio Leone, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach. This is the quintessential spaghetti western and also concludes Leone’s great trilogy, which began with Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. Long, funny,…
The Hustler
The Hustler 1961, NR, 135 min. Directed by Robert Rossen, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott. This pool-hall gem features Paul Newman as a young pool hustler who challenges the legendary Minnesota Fats (brilliantly played by Jackie Gleason). Dingy atmosphere and great performances make this…
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975, PG, 110 min. Directed by Peter Weir, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse, Jacki Weaver, Vivean Gray, Margaret Nelson. Peter Weir (The Truman Show) made this unsettling, atmospheric film early in his career, and it is still one of his most successful projects…
Once Upon a Time in the West
Once Upon a Time in the West 1968, PG, 165 min. D: Sergio Leone; with Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards. Leone’s elegiac masterpiece is a classic Western tale about railroads, land grabs, and the entrepreneurial spirit. Ennio Morricone’s haunting score befits the movie’s operatic scope. An additional treat is seeing Hollywood good…
Pickpocket
Pickpocket 1959, NR, 75 min. D: Robert Bresson. Obliquely based on Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Pickpocket tells the story of a Parisian thief who suffers a sort of crisis of the soul. He becomes bewildered by his actions, which are performed as an extension of his Nietzschean philosophical beliefs. Picking pockets is an expression of…
Spartacus
Spartacus 1960, NR, 184 min. D: Stanley Kubrick; with Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Tony Curtis, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov. Kubrick’s gladiator film is the pinnacle of sword-and-sandal epics, and who isn’t a sucker for stories about rebellious slaves? This is the kind of movie the Paramount’s screen was made for.
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Gathering ‘Round the Flame
Ten years ago, George Bush was president and a few of my old friends in South Austin still didn’t have air conditioning. Back in those days of the great savings and loan bust, jobs were scarce and houses were dirt cheap. With the Austin economy at a standstill, we wacky slackers had nothing better to…
Food Set
Tres Chic Tres Chic owner Mary Williams was unavailable for comment at press time but here are the facts about her company Tres Chic: The company originated in 1988. Tres Chic’s corporate office is here in Austin, although the company’s salsa is bottled in San Antonio by Creative Food Works. Tres Chic is sold in…
Record Reviews
The ReclinersRaw Fish (Minnow) This joke should be old by now, right? The whole swingers thing has long since passed. Must have something to do with the fact that when you step outside, it’s really the Seventies all over again. No, this shouldn’t really be funny anymore, but almost inexplicably, it still is. From the…
Out and About
There was a time — not too long ago — when gay movies only played at gay festivals. Not anymore. Gay culture boasts its own sitcom (Will & Grace), cult figures (Xena), pop singers (Melissa Etheridge), and film heroes, like the dashing Rupert Everett, who narrates Paragraph 175, only one of the movies screening at…
Second Helpings: Más Mexican
Chronicle Cuisines writer MM Pack rounds up several of Austin’s Tex-Mex restaurants.
Page Two
Cut up your jalepe�os and get down to Waterloo park this Sunday.
The Contest
At the heart of The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival is the contest itself. The blind tasting competition for individuals and restaurants is conducted by some of the top chefs in the state of Texas. They take hot sauce seriously, and so do most of the people who enter. Several previous winners in the individual…
Food Set
Tears of Joy Hot Sauce Shop Looking for a place to warm up the old taste buds in preparation for the Hot Sauce Festival? Check out the Tears of Joy Hot Sauce Shop, at the east end of the Sixth Street club district. Not only can you gaze in awe at the vast collection of…
Record Reviews
GoudiePeep Show (Elektra/The Music Company) When the Rev. Jesse Jackson told America to “stay out the Bushes” at the Democratic National Convention last week, he could have been speaking directly to Goudie. Admittedly, there’s not much danger of the local glam-rockers hitting the stump for our gaffe-prone governor, but the foursome’s major-label debut Peep Show…
Out and About
101 Rent Boys: Love for Sale “Love is a four-letter word,” says a hustler in 101 Rent Boys, the often surprising new documentary by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey (The Eyes of Tammy Faye). It’s a telling declaration, given the circumstances: Love is a four-letter word for many of the men interviewed in this film…
Tying the Knot: A Drama
Yes, the merger of Austin’s Paramount Theatre and State Theater Company is a business affair, but since theatres traffic in stories, human dramas that talk to us about life, this historic event deserves to be looked at as a story, the story of a wedding between two neighbors.
Public Notice
Check out these cool opportunities to help others and beat the summer heat in this week’s “Public Notice.”
Hitting the Sauce
To this day, the whole thing is still a mystery. Why would a group of seemingly intelligent people gather at the peak of the Austin summertime for a masochistic Tex-Mex marathon? Who in their right mind would sample hundreds of hot sauces in a single sitting? And most importantly, why would they repeat this arduous…
Food-o-File
Austinites have plenty of opportunities in the coming weeks to scorch their throats.
Record Reviews
SinisElectromagnetized (Hypeshop) Especially with the jagged, reverse “S’s” in their logo (which they recently got rid of), the obvious reference point for Sinis would be Kiss, but in spirit, they owe just as much to AC/DC — and Spinal Tap, for that matter — as they do to Gene, Paul, Peter, and Ace. Most of…
Out and About
Chutney Popcorn: Light, Crunchy, Salty Homophobia, infertility, and immigration aren’t exactly considered the funniest topics, but director Nisha Ganatra hopes to change that with her debut film, Chutney Popcorn. Ganatra, who also wrote and stars in the film, wants audiences to know that a film with a light, comic touch can say volumes more than…
Lot of Livin’ to Do
For 15 years, Paul Beutel has managed Austin’s Paramount Theatre, programming its popular film series and live shows and bringing it back from financial ruin, and he still puts in six to seven days a week there. Where do his passion and devotion spring from? Would you believe Bye Bye Birdie?
After a Fashion
Happy birthday to me!
A Possible Plan of Action for 10th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival
10:30-11:30amCheck-in takes place for individual and restaurant contestants at the south end of Waterloo Park.11:00amFestival begins — eat something substantial, so you’re primed for the task at hand.11:10amStart sampling sauces from the booths.11:20amSaunter over to a drink booth and chug a drink in 2 seconds flat! Go back for more hot sauce — doncha luv…
Paris by Net
The Louvre was crowded, as usual, and the crowd before the Mona Lisa was more obnoxious than Sixth Street revelers after a Longhorns win. Amid the constant din of international tongues, three Japanese boys barged to the front of the glassed-in exhibition of Leonardo DaVinci’s classic work, hooting and shouting. A hand shot through the…
Record Reviews
Lower Class BratsThe Plot Sickens (Punkcore) Directions: Punk’s not dead, punk’s not dead, punk’s not dead. Repeat 50 times while jumping vigorously up and down and guzzling Milwaukee’s Best. Vomit, repeat. It’s nice to see there are still Austin bands playing stuff like this, a full 20 years after the street-punk thing got started. The…
Out and About
That’s a Family: Kids Say the Darnedest Things The stars of That’s a Family are regular kids who hail from refreshingly nontraditional households. They speak with candor about growing up with two moms or two dads (“My parents are lesbians — that means they only like men for friends”), mixed-race and mixed-ethnicity parents (“You don’t…
Never Give Up
Don Toner’s 13 years as producing artistic director of the State Theater Company have been full of struggles, but in Toner’s world, struggles are good. They bring understanding, richness, beauty, and in his case, a new theatre and a loyal company.
Mr. Smarty Pants
Those Canadians sure know how to flush.
Festival Information
The Hot Sauce Contest The contest has three levels of competition: individuals (homemade), restaurants, and commercial bottlers. This gives us a good chance to recognize homemade salsas in a class by themselves. It also gives us a chance to consider salsas made fresh daily in restaurants apart from those made for grocery store shelves. The…
Links du Paris
Dites-l’en français! Say It in French! Become instantly fluent in French! Or German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish, or translate from English into those languages. For more fun, translate the new language back into English. babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dynSpend It in Francs! Convert fivers into francs at the current rate. This page will also give you a little cheat…
Record Reviews
Boxcar SatanDays Before the Flood (Compulsive) In a musical world where much of what passes for aggro-catharsis is overproduced and safe enough for NOW compilations, San Antonio’s Boxcar Satan steamrolls through the vacuum with a pungent blend of Texas punk, chicken scratch blues, and free association. The trio’s twisting, turning assault is sun-baked and liquor-drenched,…
Out and About
Our House Our House: A Very Real Film About Kids of Gay and Lesbian Parents should be required viewing for all prospective lesbian and gay parents. Why? Because this poignant documentary will tell you what it’s like, from a kid’s perspective, to grow up in a gay- or lesbian-headed household. And then you’ll want a…
Articulations
Renovations for Mary Moody Northen Theatre and Austin Museum of Art – Laguna Gloria.
Coach’s Corner
“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, the furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst into that silent sea.” — The Rime of the Ancient Mariner After a four-month sail through a hot, windless, and featureless summer, still as any doldrums experienced by the old mariner, a somnambulant sports world woke…
Hot Shots
In honor of the 10th anniversary of The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, we’ve established The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival Hall of Flame. Reviewing the past winners, it was decided that any individual, restaurant, or commercial bottler who had won three times or more in any category would be designated a member of the…
Work for Hire
The RIAA amends a copyright law that labels “sound recordings” as “work for hire” thus robbing most musicians of right to their masters.
Record Reviews
Do It Now FoundationJoy Juice EP Do It Now Foundation has always marched to a slightly different beat than most of their Austin alt.rock peers, which may be why they’ve had trouble keeping a drummer since relocating here from Vermont in 1993. It’s also made them among the most chronically overlooked and underestimated musicians in…
Out and About
ALSO RECOMMENDED AIMÉE & JAGUAR (German w/ subtitles, 1998, 124 min.) Max Färberböck’s historical melodrama is based on the true story of Lilly Wust (and the Erica Fischer bestseller about her), the wife of a Nazi soldier who fell for a Jewish lesbian in 1943 Berlin. Maria Schrader is a marvel as her lover, the…
Exhibitionism
How I Learned to Drive: This Caged Bird SingsThe Hideout, through September 2 There are several things that the State Theater Company’s production of Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, directed by Ken Webster, will not do … and I feel I should tell you about them. I want to do this because, well,…
Day Trips
A limestone hunk in Comfort, Texas — a would-be monument to area immigrants — has a decidedly uncomfortable history.
Food Set
John Randall’s Sordid but True Tale Take a Connecticut kid and send him to the Culinary Institute, then transplant him to Texas in ’78 and put him in charge of running the kitchen at the Green Pastures, then later sorority and frat houses, and finally the kitchen at The Yellow Rose. Does this sound like…
Dancing About Architecture
Ken Lieck goes to Florida and leaves readers high and dry with a best of column.
Classical Revival at the Blanton
So what’s all this about the University of Texas being a slow, confused bureaucracy? When UT sets its mind to a task, and applies the proper power and grease, things happen. And so it is with “Blanton: The Sequel.” A mere three days after presentations by six architects competing to design a new world-class art…
Out and About
aGLIFF Schedule The 13th Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival takes place August 25-September 7. Advance tickets can be purchased by calling 505-0042 or at the aGLIFF Box Office in Dobie Mall (2025 Guadalupe, lower level). Tickets for same-day shows will be available at the venues during their business hours. Regular tickets are $7/$5…
Exhibitionism
The Blue Room: Bad Cyan’s FictionBlue Theatre, through August 26 If you’re making $5 an hour, you don’t need to imagine someone making $50-plus an hour to realize that what you’re pulling in is, pretty much, chicken feed. Likewise, one needn’t have seen the caustic brilliance of Closer, that starkly erotocentric drama recently directed by…
About AIDS
Media images of sex might not have the influence on teens that was previously assumed.
Food Set
J.P. Hayes, Mr. Sgt. Pepper’s The business card that states “Sgt. Pepper’s, J.P. Hayes, Chile Connoisseur” kind of says it all. Salsa and hot sauce manufacturer, multiple Hot Sauce Festival winner, and all-around pepper aficionado, the congenial and energetic J.P. Hayes is something of a Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival institution. Growing up in California and…
Record Reviews
WannabesDecade of Moral Fumbles 1990-1999 (Plethorazine) The Wannabes have long been one of Austin’s most stalwart and dependable bands, always good for a night of Shiner Bock-infused pop hooks and well-studied barroom rock acrobatics. On nights when escaping the emotional tedium of work, school, or lost love is essential, the ‘Bes’ melancholy crunch fosters a…
The Candidate From Brown & Root
As Halliburton CEO, Dick Cheney and his employer made millions on government projects.
Austin Film Society “QT Quattro” Schedule
QT Quattro is the fourth go-’round for this unique, only-in-Austin film festival in which Quentin Tarantino programs and presents 10 days of film screenings culled from his personal archives. The selections are as wide-ranging and as ungovernable as the man who chose them. Tarantino’s introduction to each film provides lots of colorful and insightful information…
Dangerous Liaisons
Amy Bloom does not think it’s weird to have a serious illness, or to be gay, or to drink too much sometimes, or to have your baby die, or to have a stepmother of a different race than you, or to be bi, or to have a child who’s undergoing a sex change, or to…
The Austin Chronicle Margarita Crawl
Oh, the lengths to which we go to be of service to our beloved readers. Eighteen restaurants. Almost 100 margaritas. The Holy Grail: Margarita perfection. The final results, for those of you who can’t wait, is that there are some absolutely smashing margaritas in town, but the average isn’t very good. We found that most…
Food Set
Trudy’s The restaurant is a fixture in the Austin scene and the salsa is a fixture at the Hot Sauce Festival. Year after year, Trudy’s tops the list with its piquant salsas, both the red and green variety. And year after year, the mastermind behind the success is one Victor Hernandez who brought the recipe…
Record Reviews
SoulhatExperiment on a Flat Plane (Terminus) It’s always Good to Be Gone, but six to seven years is way too long. Several music (r)evolutions have come and yawn since Soulhat’s 1994 Sony debut proved a “Bonecrusher” on KLBJ only, but given the successful outcome of its rightful follow-up, Experiment on a Flat Plane, it’s a…
The New Nuclear Family
The scene is not exactly a Norman Rockwell painting, but it’s close: the interior of a Central Austin home, dad seated in an overstuffed chair in a room decorated with a child’s artwork and family vacation photos. And yes, outside, where 10-year-old Nicolas is at play with a neighborhood buddy, there is even a picket…
Short Cuts
Upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
Amy Bloom Reviewed
A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You: Stories by Amy Bloom Random House, 163 pp., $22.95 When she was a little girl, Jessie Spencer, the subject of the title story of Amy Bloom’s new collection, refused to wear feminine clothes, even once demanding to wear a navy blazer and gray pants to…
The Winners
Güero’s1412 S. Congress 447-7688 Aug 2, 7pm(all times approximate)Low End “Rita” ($4.25) Superb. Not only can you get a great margarita at a fair price, you can specify one of eight premium tequilas at this price (we prefer Herradura Silver). Perfectly balanced between lime and liquor. MM Pack: “Buzz material.”Frozen “Frita” ($4.25) Very good. At…
Food Set
Evita’s Botanitas Ruben Rodriguez is the chef/owner and hot sauce maker at this popular little South Austin family restaurant. A native of Guanajuato, Mexico, Rodriguez has worked in restaurants most of his adult life and he’s been his own boss at Botanitas for more than nine years. In the front window of his joint, Ruben…
Record Reviews
The Blues SpecialistsN2Deep (Ariel) Dedicated to the late T.D. Bell and Erbie Bowser, N2Deep is a perfect blues memorial: upbeat, laid-back, and oozing authentic juke-joint ambience. The Blues Specialists have been ushering in the weekend at their Friday-evening Continental Club happy-hour slot for over a decade now, so it’s no surprise N2Deep is a fine…
Politics Feature
Warren’s War on Gay Families The history of anti-gay legislation in the Texas Legislature is as long as it is ignoble. And although odds are good that the state’s sodomy statute will soon be ruled in violation of the state’s constitution (see “In and Out,” August 11), odds are better that Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, will…
Video Reviews
(“Video Reviews” wishes to thank Blockbuster Video, Encore Movies & Music, I Luv Video, Vulcan Video, and Waterloo Video for their help in providing videos, laser discs, and DVDs.)A Star Is Born D: William Wellman (1937); with Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander. D: George Cukor (1954), with Judy…
Postscripts
Toad Hall Children’s Bookstore is closing at the end of August, and store supporters are none too happy about it.
The Others
Baby Acapulco1628 Barton Springs Rd. 474-8774 Aug 2, 6pmLow End “Rita on the Rocks” ($4.50) Way below average. Overly salted. Dominant flavor is the mix. MM Pack: “It’s weird.”Frozen “Lime Rita” ($4.50) Way below average. Waiter said customers like it because it has Everclear in it. High End “Top Shelf Rita” ($6.50) Average. Mix seems…
Food Set
Jardin Corona When you buy a home from someone, you know you’re at least getting the structure. You hope to get the major appliances, too; who wants to start out scouting appliance stores for refrigerators and such? And superstitions hold that you should inherit the broom, too. Likewise, when a business changes hands, certain things…
Record Reviews
LeRoi BrothersKings of the Catnap (Rounder) There’s two ways of doing rockabilly, the nostalgic way (Dave Edmunds’ “I Hear You Knockin'” at best, the non-disco material from Grease at worst) or the just plain-from-the-heart way. The LeRois have done the latter for the better part of two decades now, and this album, their first in…
Naked City
Funders gather at Kirk Watson’s House, a new campaign finance reform group is born in Austin, and Club DeVille goes Republican.
TV Eye
By the time you read this, it will all be over: Reflections on a summer spent loving to hate Survivor.
Book Reviews
Soldier: A Poet’s Childhood by June Jordan Basic Books, 261 pp., $20 Poets, we like to think, are pacifists at heart, but their lives often give the opposite impression. In his youth, the Romantic poet Wordsworth was famously enamored of Napoleon, and entertained dreams of becoming a great general. As he recounts in The Prelude,…
Appetizers
There’s something about the citrusy smack of a margarita that marries blissfully to the aggressive tones of Mexican cuisine. The cool sweetness of the margarita requires the solid, earthy flavors of Mexican masa, chile peppers, beans, and meat to neutralize its seductive smoothness. Indeed, margaritas without food can have disastrous results — there is simply…
Food Set
Iguana Grill The Iguana Grill is probably just as well known for their great view of Lake Travis as they are for their “Lake-Mex Cuisine,” but there’s one menu item that is a certified multiple-award winner. For several years running, the Iguana’s divinely smoky Chipotle Pepper Salsa has ruled in the restaurant division’s special variety…
Record Reviews
Blaze Brannen Temple has once again gathered some of the best young players in Austin and united them under one musical vision, only this time it’s all about straight-ahead jazz, and the results are every bit as impressive as the funk- and groove-heavy genius of his former outfit, the much-lauded Hot Buttered Rhythm. Temple’s drum…
Naked City
Vignette discusses its options for a planned move downtown.
Book Reviews
True Story: A Novel by Bill Maher Simon & Schuster, 304 pp., $23 True Story turns out to be a qualified success — light on character development but surprisingly clever, offensive, and insightful despite its faults. Set during the late Seventies, when storefronts and coffeehouse basements nationwide were being converted into comedy clubs, True Story…
Commentary
My grandmother Mike, Houston Press criminal court reporter from the 1920s through the Sixties, drank margaritas when I was a child. Her formula was lots of tequila, the merest splash of triple sec, fresh limes, and a few drops of simple syrup, shaken like a martini. Only wimps required ice. I wish I could say…
Food Set
Texas-Texas Barely two months into business, the Sanderson family — Margaret and Eddie of San Saba, and their grown sons Shawn and Brian of Austin — saw their Texas-Texas salsa capture the attention they had only dreamed their product would get months down the road. The Sanderson’s fledgling company took a First Place and a…
Record Reviews
Austin Jazz WorkshopTake to the Sky (AusJazz Music) To risk an undisguised, unabashed cliché, the Austin Jazz Workshop is greater than the sum of its parts. But hold on. Considering the Workshop’s parts, this is no meager suggestion. Do the names Tina Marsh or James Polk ring a bell? How about Ernie Durawa, Marty Allen,…
Naked City
Local singer-songwriter Lourdes Perez has become outspoken in the fight against the US bombing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
Conspirators of Pleasure
Conspirators of Pleasure NR, 83 min. Directed by Michael Dinner, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Michael Sandoval, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jennifer Tilly, Seymour Cassel, Richard Dreyfuss, Dan Hedaya, Burt Reynolds. Not reviewed at press time. This 1996 film by the Czech director and madman Jan Svankmajer (Faust), who is better known for his animation,…
Off the Bookshelf
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary edited by Wendalyn Nichols Random House, 1,573 pp., $24.95 For your average dictionary obsessive, it’s all about hyphens and slang. Poets, professors, and those with an appetite for deconstruction prefer the OED, with its fancy-schmancy pronunciation symbols and legendary etymological discourse. Free-thinkers and minimalists opt for American Heritage, scanty of…
What is Tequila?
Tequila is made from the roasted heart of a blue agave, a succulent plant (not a cactus) that grows in Mexico. Virtually all tequilas are made in the state of Jalisco. Cultivated for over 9,000 years, the natives use agave to make pulque, a beer-strength drink still made by clandestinos (moonshiners) all over Mexico. In…
Food Set
Smoky Hill This Austin-based purveyor of fiery foods’ calling card is the natural smokiness of its salsas. What’s the big deal about that, you may ask? The answer lies in a bottle of liquid smoke. Have you ever sniffed the stuff? Or put a drop or two in a sauce? Well, it’s a potent substance.…
Record Reviews
Hot Club of CowtownDev’lish Mary (Hightone) The third release from Austin’s Hot Club of Cowtown is a 16-song collection of their Django Reinhardt-cum-Stephane Grappelli gypsy jazz, this time graced by Lloyd Maines’ production, Bobby Koefer’s pedal steel, and even an unmistakable yodel from Don Walser. The local trio have long since perfected their New York-by-way-of-Texas…
Naked City
Council members announce Planning Commission appointments that promise to calm the harsh political winds that have blown through the commission of late.
God’s Army
God’s Army 2000, PG, 118 min. Directed by Richard Dutcher, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Pentecost, Seamus Hurley, Desean Terry, Malayika Singley, Lynn Carr, Michael Buster, Matthew Brown, Richard Dutcher. Somebody, somewhere, someday is going to have the presence of mind to double-bill this with Orgazmo, and why not? Both films deal…
Off the Bookshelf
Twenty Ads That Shook the World The Century’s Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All by James Twitchell Crown, 272 pp., $25 This book’s title is a bit misleading, since, rather than focusing on 20 individual ads, it actually profiles influential ad campaigns. Would you believe that the cherubic Santa Claus character we…
Wes’ Favorite Margarita Recipe
1 1/2 ounces of Blanco 100% Blue Agave Tequila (I like Tequila Nacional, Herradura Blanco, or Patrón) 1/2 ounce of Cointreau (or better, if you can get some from Mexico, Controy, made from Mexican oranges) 1/2 ounce of fresh squeezed key lime juice Rub lime around rim of martini glass and dip in Kosher salt.…
Food Set
Aztexan Pepper Co. Petty thieves drove Mark Witt of Aztexan into the hot sauce business. The year was 1994, and Witt and a friend were operating a Cajun catering truck whose supply of homemade hot sauce kept disappearing. “People kept stealing our sauces, so I figured we were onto something good,” laughs Witt, who now…
Record Reviews
Kevin SmithBluebonnet Blues Lone Star. The Guadalupe River. Helotes Country Store. Shiner Bock. The Derailers. Pearl Beer. Gary P. Nunn. Get the idea? Kevin Smith’s CD reads like a Texas travelogue, one reference after another about the Lone Star State, drinkin’, hanging out in the Hill Country, drinkin’, missing a girlfriend, and drinkin’. Did I…
Naked City
Despite the many good arguments in their favor, Beverly Griffith’s parks bonds and Raul Alvarez’s housing bonds get shot down at council; meanwhile, Kirk Watson’s $150 million transportation proposal glides through with nary a hitch.
The Opportunists
The Opportunists 2000, R, 89 min. Directed by Myles Connell, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Christopher Walken, Peter Mcdonald, Cyndi Lauper, Donal Logue, Vera Farmiga, Jose Zuniga, Anne Pitoniak, Tom Noonan. Vic Kelly (Walken) wants to do the right thing. The only thing is, his archaic sense of male pride and his over-compensation…
Off the Bookshelf
Light at Dusk A Novel by Peter Gadol Picador, 277pp., $24 In Light at Dusk, Peter Gadol has written a graceful novel of international intrigue. The players are Will Law, “a rising star in the U.S. foreign service,” who has abandoned his post in Mexico under mysterious circumstances and come to Paris, where his ex-lover,…
Liquid Sunshine
Twelve-thirty in the afternoon at Stubb’s. He is sitting at a corner table with the owner of Stubb’s. Shorts, jogging shoes, Hawaiian shirt, and designer glasses. Forty-ish. He hands me a card. Tequila Nacional. W. Park Kerr — El Jefe (the chief). We exchange greetings. He looks so peaceful sitting there. Only later am I…
Food Set
Timpone’s Fresh Foods/Rose’s Here’s an inspirational story: It’s 1998. A guy is taking a cross-country trip — well, at least across part of the country. Texas to California, to be exact. And what does a lengthy road trip require? Provisions, of course. And this guy has a friend who thoughtfully sent along some of her…
Record Reviews
Lucky PierresMy Temptation My Temptation, the second CD from Dallas’ Lucky Pierres, finds them moving away from the “cocktail country” label they had previously used to describe themselves and closer to a brand of country that’s straight out of Texas. They mix styles from pure honky-tonk to smooth country rock to edgy alt.country throughout this…
Naked City
The Triangle Square plan gets approved at council, raising questions from Eastside activists about the fate of similar projects in their neighborhoods.
