Cover Story
This Time Just the Girls
The ladies of Austin hip-hop hold court
Texas Book Festival Announces Lineup
Atwood. Russo. Whitehead. Lethem. Nelson. Safran Foer. Do we have your attention yet?
Jennifer Kim, Meet Mary Kay
Ex-City Council member on her new career
The Lineup
Recommended music for the week of Sept. 3-10
Radney’s Revival
Q&A with Radney Foster
This Week’s Waste of Time
Run for your life. Jump for your life, too!
Smoke Some With the Totally Awesome AusChron Newscast!
The Newscast continues … cough, cough …
These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking
Wish List: Fall Boots
Chubby Hubby No Longer
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream gets on the gay train.
AGLIFF: The Countdown Begins
The Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival kicks off in one week.
Who’s for TexasCare?
Gov. Perry mixes states rights and health care reform
Back to School…on Drugs?
In annual survey, teens say prescription drugs and pot are easy to get
Wii Internet Browser Now Free
Nintendo finally realizes that no one pays for their surfing
Be There, Love Them
Screening of the Townes Van Zandt doc Be Here to Love Me to benefit the Austin Bat Cave
Breaking: Sonic Youth cancels ACL
The sacred tricksters axe its taping for Austin City Limits’ 35th anniversary season.
Review: Wii Sports Resort
Nintendo’s Wii Sports reboot does more than go through the motions
A Captain Goes Down with His Ship…
Next Up! covers local U21 and U18 bands
Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
Elvis Costello’s spectacle at the Bass Concert Hall
Austin’s DadLabs Take Back Labor
DadLabs dudes host a special event at the Alamo Downtown
Kinky Begins Again
After failing as an independent, now running for gov as Democrat
Off the Record – 33 RPM
Getting reacquainted with the reunited Hot Club of Cowtown, meeting Captain Clegg, introducing the first annual Summer Vinyl Awards, and announcing some more confirmations for Fun Fun Fun Fest and ACL
Ozone Watch Wednesday
Try to limit driving and other polluting actions
Hot Sauce Recap, Back to School, & Best of Austin…. Oh My!
…and we thought we were busy last week.
Them Crooked Vultures Circling over ACL
Josh Homme and company have been added to Friday’s lineup
Adventures in Whirlwind-Reaping
Perry gets flack from the secessionists
2000 Light Years from Home
When Did 40 Become the New 10?
At the Corner of Starlight and Springtime
R.I.P. Ellie Greenwich
Cap Met Budget Proposals Start Flying
Board member suggests protections for poor; staff says stimulus money could forestall fare increases
A Taxing Discussion
YCT threatens to disrupt health care forum
Stars vs. Stars Tickets On Sale Now
Local Stars affiliate plays parent club Sept. 30
The 2009 ‘Austin Chronicle’ Hot Sauce Festival
Sunday, August 30 11am-5:30pm Waterloo Park at 12th and Trinity Presented by Capital Area Food Bank of Texas Free Bring three nonperishable food items for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. Proceeds from the daylong raffle benefit Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. Ride the Bus Capital Metro has more than a dozen ways…
Homelessness in San Antonio and Austin
Could a unified campus for homeless services work as well here as in San Antonio?
New in Print
Given the rather apocalyptic summer we’re having, it’s hard not to appreciate the opening lines of this eco-disaster thriller: “June seemed to last for a thousand years”
Does Austin Need Its Own Air Control Bureau?
The wild card in Texas air quality protection is the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality – TCEQ, dubbed “T-Suck” by critics. The agency has long faced criticism that it is far too business-friendly. Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, said: “It’s not just environmentalists. The state auditor, back in 2003, found that TCEQ does…
Mad Dogs and Austinites
Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival
Introducing … Lee’s Long List
Mayor Lee Leffingwell announced his community cabinet this week, fulfilling a campaign promise to be regularly advised by community leaders. Many of the names should be familiar, as they include several City Hall regulars from the fields of business, development, government, education, arts, and social services. The cabinet’s first meeting is planned for September, with…
New in Print
O.H. Bennett’s sophomore novel tells the story of an accidental Cain and the repercussions of his crime and cover story
When Does Toxic Become Too Toxic?
It might take a degree in environmental chemistry to understand the pollution readings from Pure Castings Co. – and even then, not everyone agrees on what they mean. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s real-time monitoring station has been in operation on the roof at Zavala Elementary since Feb. 19, and the agency has placed…
Celebrity Judges
Adam Gonzales: Gonzales is the founding chef and co-owner of Austin’s popular Tex-Mex restaurant chain Serranos, which is well-known for mesquite-grilled specialties. The Serranos location at Symphony Square has hosted the judges for the Hot Sauce Festival every year the festival has been held in nearby Waterloo Park. After his appearance in the new cooking…
Headlines
The week’s big news, here and elsewhere
After a Fashion
Old men shouldn’t throw stone canes in glass nursing homes �
Day Trips
The Texas Discovery Gardens is a hidden gem among the museums of Dallas
Contest & Festival Facts
Admission The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival requests that you pay an admission fee in the form of three nonperishable food items to be donated to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. Collection sites will be set up at entrances to Waterloo Park. Contest At the heart of The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival…
KeyPoint to Investigate Sanders Shooting
The decision has not escaped criticism
The Common Law
Subletting Your Apartment – Can You Do It?
Gay Place
The ‘Best’ isn’t ’til next week…
Hot Sauce Fest Cooking Tent
This year, the Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival provides an interesting new feature that should be fun for chile-heads of all ages: a cooking demonstration tent. Folks can enjoy a bit of shelter from the sun while learning the salsa craft from chefs who will demonstrate recipes in all contest categories: red sauce, green sauce, and…
What Will New AISD Budget Mean About Next Year’s?
After struggles over staff pay, the budget is ready – and Carstarphen’s ready to look to the future
Event Menu
Local eateries celebrate chiles, beer, sweet treats, boobs, and more
Arts Review
Ariel Dance Theatre’s Gyre Project ends on a visually thrilling but confusing note
Off the Record
Jesse Dayton walks with a Zombie, while T Bird & the Breaks spice things up for the annual Hot Sauce Festival
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, the region, and beyond
Food-o-File
Austin burgers and bakeries are in good hands, and several foodie contests just wrapped up
Arts Review
The landscape shapes us, say these prints by the Texas regionalist, and we are it
To Market, to Market
So you want to sell your food product?
Cap Metro’s Budget Blues
Cap Metro prepares for cutbacks but finds a little dough to continue printing a schedule book
El Chipotle Sauces From Sgt. Pepper’s
Sgt. Pepper continues to bring the heat
Texas Platters
Sam Baker Cotton Sam Baker’s is a hard-hewn grace, transcendentally wrought with grit, brutally chiaroscuroed by a weary deliverance sought in common lives. If the local songwriter’s first album, 2004’s Mercy, grasped for a deeper understanding of the dark tragedies beyond our control – a return to the Peruvian train rent by a bomb that…
Austin Slow Burn Gourmet Fiery Foods
www.austinslowburn.com In 1994, local condiment company Austin Slow Burn was born out of a bumper crop of habanero peppers and the creativity of food service professionals Jill and Kevin Lewis. In the early years of the business, Jill spent nights cooking, packaging, and labeling their products in rented restaurant kitchens (Pica Cafe, then the Chuy’s…
What Part of ‘No’ Don’t You Understand?
12th Street corridor residents oppose convalescent center
Brew News
Local brew-head news
Texas Platters
Hot Club Of Cowtown Wishful Thinking (Gold Strike) They broke up in 2005, but Wishful Thinking proves the Hot Club of Cowtown belongs together. Fiddler Elana James, guitarist Whit Smith, and stand-up bassist Jake Erwin haven’t made a studio album together since 2002’s Ghost Train, yet here the local trio reaches another level of musicality.…
Some Resources for Aspiring Specialty Food Developers
National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, www.specialtyfood.com NASFT is a nonprofit business trade association to promote the specialty food industry, and it sponsors the huge Fancy Food Shows annually in New York and San Francisco, including professional seminars on various aspects of specialty food businesses. The website also includes webinars, videos, and books, including…
Sirens at AFD
A new fire department policy mandating safe driving practices has sparked controversy
The Hightower Report
Starbucks’ Identity Crisis; and Right-Wing Loopiness
Texas Platters
Porterdavis (Roots ‘n’ Blues) Porterdavis’ debut studio recording comes with an unwritten guarantee that there’s more of the good stuff where this came from. The self-titled long-player isn’t Porterdavis’ first – the band delivered the excellent Live at Eddie’s Attic two years ago – but it’s a definitive statement of contemporary Americana. And if the…
Texas Platters
Danny Malone Cuddlebug (Township) Danny Malone is the type of guy you can’t break up with for fear of the consequence. His sophomore full-length, Cuddlebug, successfully conjures that walking-on-eggshells feeling, most notably in the standout soft rock of “My Affection,” in which he confides: “Maybe I’m a little bit unstable whenever I come around. I’m…
First Night Austin
The recent resignation of its director won’t stop the New Year’s Eve event from rockin’
Caging Children
A new study from the LBJ School suggests that it’s a bad idea
Still Life, All Shook Up
Naked Lunch’s models are a bunch of sketchy posers
Texas Platters
Things I Know says it all about Bonnie Bishop: that her songwriting has taken on a confidence that usually takes longer to develop; that such songs as “Lucky Ones” and “I Think I Will” do more than suggest good things; that her showstopping “River of Joy” reminds us in these days of random shuffle that…
‘The Dragonfly Queen’
Composer Chad Salvata takes his Dragonfly Princess to the next stage of her evolution
Race to the Judicial Starting Line
Judicial candidates emerge with the primary six months away
TV Eye
Theatre, ritual, dance, sport, or a bloody spectacle? Bullfighting is one of those events many of us in this part of the world simply don’t understand. Ella Es el Matador, the next film in the POV fall slate, does not clear up the confusion, but it does go a long way in showing that there…
Taking Woodstock
The director of Brokeback Mountain looks for peace and love in another decade and finds it at the legendary festival through the story of one key participant.
Texas Platters
Scan Hopper (Simplexity) The 14-song debut from Scott Hopkins keeps eye-level with psych and New Wave touchstones, while the dreamy strum of “Notes or the Face (Plumage Rock)” needs “Misfits of Science” to jerk the album out of slumber and find its footing in the more up-tempo songs.
Soccer Watch
The Austin Aztex play their next-to-last home game of the season this weekend – hosting Miami at 7:30pm Saturday, Aug. 29, at Nelson Field – and while they’re all but out of the playoff hunt, they have a few things to celebrate. The organization made three pretty big announcements this week. First, “as part of…
Bastrop Murder Linked to Woodside Trails History
Teenager accused of murder was boy at center of Woodside Trails controversy
Mystery Team
The Mystery Team is a crime-solving trio of clueless high school seniors, brought to us by the five-person troupe called Derrick Comedy.
Texas Platters
White Widow Black Heart (Tullo Tunes) The pseudonym for recent transplant Carla Patullo, White Widow’s third LP could benefit from a little experimentation. Her cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Lady From the Mountain” is too “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” and “Warriors” is Lilith Fair fare. Only “I Break” really breaks her out of the coffeehouse…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
License plates, Ferrari, cacti, and hyenas
Keller’s Lawyer Shifts Blame
Judge Sharon Keller’s attorney says Michael Richard’s lawyers are to blame for his execution
Something Wilder
AFS Essential Cinema: Censors, Drop Your Scissors! Billy Wilder’s Later Comedies
Departures
This Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Language Film is a gentle and comedically nuanced exercise in mourning from Japan.
Texas Platters
Blackholicus Megaforte The image on the back of this metal quartet’s latest – four snarling wolves emerging from a screaming face – should have been the cover. Blackholicus excels in late 1970s metal, but frontwoman/bassist Margaret Myrick’s squeal on “Werewolf” and “Roquefort” gives it a distinct Texas brand. “Victory I” and “Victory II” are no…
Point Austin: Another War for Sale
NPR covers ‘Iran and the Bomb’ – from A to B
Correspondence With National Public Radio
In response to this week’s weeklong National Public Radio series on “Iran and the Bomb,” I sent some brief questions to the NPR reporters and editors. Posted here are the questions and the response from Anna Christopher, senior manager for media relations at NPR. Austin Chronicle: I’m working on a column for The Austin Chronicle…
Will Work for Laughs
Mike Judge clocks in with Extract
Texas Platters
Toast The Mad Science With song titles like “Jam Sammich” and “Tude,” you’d be right in assuming where Toast’s jam loyalties lie. The quartet’s concoction is akin to Spyro Gyra’s jazz fusion blended on high with touches of electronica. The jams get off the ground but never really head for more original pastures.
Beside the Point: Pray for Drought
The unexpected blessings of global warming
Off the Cuff and in Your City
A roundup of Austin improv schools
Letters at 3AM
The prose themes of Willa Cather are timeless
Texas Platters
The Iveys This familial trio’s self-titled debut aims for mainstream appeal, and its harmonic country-pop (think Eisley) is perfect for West Texas and NYC radio, but it’s music without any real discernible edge. “The Promise” and “Whispered Words” have the soundtrack to an earnest teen series on the WB all over them.
Res publica
Citizens calendar, Aug. 27-Sept. 3
Zapping Me Into the Present Moment
I am onstage, lying on my back and kicking my legs in the air like an upturned cockroach. Seven fellow improvisers are doing the same. They have to. It’s a follow-the-leader game, each of us making up the moves for a bit of song while our classmates follow our lead. Why is it so satisfying…
Cast Away
Pure Castings, Zavala Elementary, pollution, jobs … and the neighborhood
Luv Doc Recommends: ‘Austin Chronicle’ Hot Sauce Festival
It’s going to be hot at The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival this Sunday. Crazy hot. Maybe like 1,900 degrees … in the shade. Don’t let Jim Spencer or Mark Murray or Troy Kimmel or that bouncy dude on Fox with the shopping-mall hairdo tell you any differently. They might appeal to your sense of…
