Cover Story
Elvis Lives!
Allison Orr choreographs a new comeback special for the King
Less a Debate Than a Forum
The HRC/Logo forum is underway.
Council Flushes WTP4; Water Plant Iced for Year (Updated)
Looks like the controversial water plant is circling the drain.
Debatable (and an Update)
The Dems line up for the gay vote… Will they pontificate on principle or play politics as usual? We’ll see tonight.
More Virginity
Photos from Baltimore’s Virgin Festival.
Hell Marys Crowned ’07 Season Champs
The Texas Rollergirls held their championship bout last Sunday at the raucous Playland Skate Center and it more than lived up to the hype. The Hell Marys and the Hotrod Honeys battled for first-place honors while the Hustlers and the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers sought to avoid a last-place finish. The last time the Hell Marys…
WTP4 Redux
Has the tide finally turned on the troubled plant?
Leff Peeved on Perceived Springs Paving
What does the ecological matters at Council today bode for the 2008 Mayoral election?
The Bridges of Travis (and Bexar, and Harris, and …) Counties
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst puts pressure on TX-DoT over bridge maintenance.
Happy New Year, Soccer Fans!
The 2007-2008 season is starting up across Europe, with most of the major leagues kicking off this weekend. Manchester United won the first competition of the year, beating Chelsea in a penalty-kick shoot-out to take the Community Shield trophy, the face-off between the winners of last year’s FA Cup and league title. Man U goalie…
Say Anything, Bob Allen (an Update of Sorts)
Bob Allen explains why it feels safer to offer blow jobs in park bathrooms than not.
Nuclear, Coal, & Wind in Texas
With seven nuclear plants proposed in Texas, local environmental groups are turning to Hollywood to help get the message out. Public Citizen and the Sierra Club showed up at the Simpsons Movie premiere to talk about the dangers of Texas’ nuclear future (read more here), and then on Aug. 9, SEED joined the two groups…
Killing with Kindness
So if State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, is after US Sen. John Cornyn’s seat in ’08, why is he being nice to him? Today, Noriega put out a press release complementing the Republican incumbent for supporting the Federal Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The bill would allow the children of illegal…
Mastering Barton Springs
According to News reporter Daniel Mottola, reactions to the new Barton Springs Master Plan were mixed a few weeks ago after a presentation during a Save Barton Creek Association meeting. The plan aims to rehabilitate the bathhouse, manage flooding, and improve water quality, among other things. Some skeptics worried the plan was better for city…
Happy Birthday Buck!
Happy Birthday, Buck Owens.
Rep Your Hood
Just what you’ve been waiting for – Austin’s top 18 gangs!
City Council Notebook
A rundown of what’s on the agenda this week.
The Abbott Advisories, Part 5
Where’s the Speaker Pro Tem been in all of this?
Dumpster Diving = the New Black
Chron’s own Lauri Apple to get her Willard Scott on.
Backe to Make Rehab Start for the Express
Astros fan favorite and Galveston native Brandon Backe is on the road to recovery after undergoing Tommy John ligament replacement surgery last year and will make his first appearance with the Round Rock Express tonight as they battle the Salt Lake Bees. Backe gave up three runs on five hits, four strikeouts, and two walks…
Conservative Idol
Who gets the Heritage Alliance seal of conservative approval?
The Abbott Advisories, Part 4
As Republican in-fighting over Tom Craddick grows, where are the Democrats?
More Spanking for Perry on Community College Veto
Dewhurst and Zaffirini take action on governor’s community colleges veto
Back to the Future
The Redwalls mod revival.
Pink Is the New Shame
Thai cops can’t get over the shame of pink.
Lee Hazelwood, 1929-2007
Lee Hazelwood has passed away, and we are so sad.
BYOB SOL?
Council ordinance reigning-in BYOB bars on the agenda this week.
Some Velvet Morning Eternal
Lee Hazlewood R.I.P.
Cornyn vs. CHIP
Before they even have a candidate, the Dems are already running against Sen. John Cornyn.
Animal Shelter Move Howls Again Wednesday
The debate comes to Council chambers.
There You Go, Yo. Dag.
Yo Majesty came back and is coming back.
Like a Moth to the Flame …
Barry Bonds, Jon Lovitz, and Bud Selig: A Match Made in Heaven
The Abbott Advisories, Part 3
After the big opinion letters, now individual members are chiming in on the Craddick debacle.
The Abbott Advisories, Part 2
Now the anti-Craddick GOPers have given their considered legal opinion to the AG.
The Abbott Advisories, Part 1
Republican House heavy hitters give their legal opinion on Speaker Craddick to the AG. Well, he did ask.
‘Oral Relationship’: Italian Style
Two guys kiss in front of the colosseum and the fall of Rome breaks out.
The Suicide Boys
The Houston Texans are the Suicide Boys of the NFL
Bye-Bye to Bearse
Perry’s director of communications heads off, but is he going far?
Lions
Pride. A pride of Leo’s nest at the Chronicle. August is our month. Today one departs, a good one – a fierce, passionate one. One we’re sorry to lose. Another one turns 27 today, one who’s all claws and balls. Sexy beasts both. I’m a Leo, textbook: big, vain, incisors at the sharp. We’re also…
Video: Chronic Explains Iraq, Austin, in Three Minutes or Less
Chronic’s national television debut, for all to marvel at.
More Signs of the End Times
Have the Democrats found an unlikely ally in their fight to overturn Perry’s budget cuts?
Rock Art
Because Valerie Aiello didn’t want babies on the covers of the Rockabye Baby! series, all 20 of the CDs sport cover art and marketing copy that reference the band’s music and iconography, with varying degrees of success. Some are humorous, some are awesome, and some are just lame. Metallica An angry bear hangs from puppet…
National Poetry Slam Opening Bout Schedule
TUESDAY EGO�S HIDEOUT ANTONE�S DOMINICAN JOE RUTA MAYA 7pm BOUT NO. 1 BOUT NO. 2 BOUT NO. 3 BOUT NO. 4 BOUT NO. 5 Manchester Oklahoma City Austin – NeoSoul Tucson St. Louis Honolulu Milwaukee New York – Urbana San Antonio Fayetteville Ann Arbor Baltimore Lincoln Austin – Ego�s Boise Palatine Dallas – Poetry Grind…
Oh, the Joy of Double Dipping
Perry staffers serve double duty
Readings
How Latinos variously enact the fiesta for 15-year-old girls both fascinates and repels Julia Alvarez
Bratz
Bring some bratitude and a passion for fashion, and you’ll be almost as giddy as a 10-year-old girl.
Consumer Reportzzzzz…
Four local families, selected on the basis of their status as music lovers who don’t shy away from brutal honesty, were asked to give some of the Rockabye Baby! CDs a spin and provide their feedback. Lesley Mom of Will, age 1 The U2 and Ramones CDs are good baby-rocking music. Will responded well to…
Page Two: Free to Be You and Me
‘Chronicle’ letter-writers and the editors who love them: a field guide
Texas Oil Working in Sudan
Companies with international subsidiaries still doing business there
Readings
In Ahmadou Kourouma’s fourth and final novel, the 10-year-old narrator is forced into military service in Liberia
El Cantante
Jennifer Lopez and her real-life husband, Marc Anthony, portray the lives of salsa star Hector Lavoe and his wife, Puchi, in this biopic overstuffed with music-industry clichés.
Off the Record
Remembering blues drummer ‘Uncle’ John Turner, tracking the devil and Daniel Johnston, on-air with Seattle’s KEXP, Abandoned Love Records, and more
Pearls on Film
Home Movie Day takes personal memories, preservation to the public
@ Chronic: Victory in ’08! or Victory in ’08?
The Texas Republican Party has already started pushing for electoral glory in 2008. So where are the Dems?
The Common Law
Fido’s Off the Chain – Austin’s Anti-Chaining Dog Ordinance
Vitus
This Swiss film tells the story of a child prodigy torn between his parents’ desires to further his career and his own need for normalcy.
Texas Platters
Okkervil River The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar) Okkervil River parted the curtains on 2005’s staggering Black Sheep Boy to expose the “blinding light,” an ugly and unsettling truth, purposely petulant and grotesque. The Austin combo sounded tortured and broken, a drastic and dramatic departure from the folkier roots of 2003’s Down the River of Golden Dreams.…
DVD Match
Antonioni vs. Bergman from beyond the grave
Happenings
Aug. 2-8
Day Trips
The Crandall Cotton Gin Restaurant offers comfort food cooked all sorts of ways
My Best Friend
An antiques dealer is more at home with his silent artifacts than with his fellow Parisians, until a cabbie teaches him the basics of social interaction.
7 and 7 Is
“The Underdog (demo)” b/w “It Took a Rumor to Make Me Wonder, Now I’m Convinced I’m Going Under,” Live at CBGB, “Committed to Wind” b/w “Stow Away,” “Cut the Kite String” b/w “Circumsize Me”
So, Who’s Your Contractor?
How to find the contractor needle in the Cro-Magnon haystack
Beside the Point
If it’s August, it must be budget-making time at City Hall
After a Fashion
Stephen pulls a Carly Simon and gives a wannabe critic one huge eye roll
Talk to Me
Cheadle leads a great cast through a musical glance at D.C. in the Sixties and Seventies.
Texas Platters
Rachel Loy Tongue & Teeth If the title of Rachel Loy’s second CD suggests sharpness and bite, heed the warning. The sweet young thing finding her way through the world on 2005’s Love the Mess isn’t gone. She’s morphed into a confident young woman eyeballing life. That confidence translates into attitude, dealt out in spades…
What Would Martha Do?
If the ideas are there, design it yourself!
Developing Stories
Getting back to our Wooldridge Square roots
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
7-Eleven for the homeless and underpants for the illiterate
Triad Election
When the time comes for an aging gangster godfather in Hong Kong to step down, a bloody battle for control ensues in this vivid story about thug life.
Texas Platters
Eliza Gilkyson Your Town Tonight (Red House) With the five albums she’s released on Red House Records, Eliza Gilkyson has arrived at the highest echelon of Austin’s songwriting community. While her studio output can be stately, exquisite, in concert Gilkyson loosens up into a familiar raconteur mode, relating background details on how a song came…
You Don’t Have to ‘Do It Yourself’
When DIY doesn’t cut it, hire an expert
Reefer Madness: Green Alert
“These people are armed; they’re dangerous … violent criminal terrorists,” says drug czar John Walters.
Letters at 3AM
8:15am, the moment Hiroshima was bombed, comes around every morning: It is something we live with
Cash
Bollywood thriller.
Texas Platters
The Little Bicycles Broken Hearts and Tired Legs (Jane Awesome) There’s something familiar about the Little Bicycles. It’s almost as if the early Nineties were cryogenically frozen and then thawed specifically for a Texas summer. It could be singer/guitarist Nadia Kean’s voice, akin to Juliana Hatfield, though she rarely stretches it. Bassist Andrea Hendel and…
Going Green
Going green is easier than it seems
The Next Next
Jasper Fforde reveals the secrets behind the new Thursday Next adventure, narrative gymnastics, and the job of writing
Eating … Crow?
Fried chicken revisited
Gandhi, My Father
Although Mahatma Gandhi was the father of his nation, he was unable to help his troubled son Harilal Gandhi.
Texas Platters
Opposite Day Safety First (Eat a Finger Peach Look) In the bizarro world of Austin’s Opposite Day, “Safety First” isn’t exactly a motto that comes to mind. No sooner has opener “Solid Baby” settled into a fairly blasé ska-inflected pop-punk than Greg Yancey drops a funky bassline, bringing the song to a standstill and leading…
Making Waves
Barton Springs Pool in line for a fixer-upper
Soccer Watch
Iraq wins Asian Cup, rec leagues currently enrolling, and more
Food-o-File
No Reservations, Mindy Kucan’s Hot Summer Night, and more
Texas Platters
The Strange Attractors (Rare Dust) The storm gathers overhead, a bad omen lingering in the midnight air. “The world has moved again and left me off the beat,” bellows the Strange Attractors’ Kevin Pearce midway through “Under the Gun,” as a haze of psychedelic guitars morph into smoke and fire and blacken the lungs. “Let…
New South Bathhouse
Eco-minded Austinites often curse whenever a new construction project is proposed within the Edwards Aquifer watershed because of the resulting runoff that pollutes the aquifer and ultimately the springs. So you can imagine their reaction when planners floated the concept of building a new bathhouse immediately up the hill from the beloved Barton Springs Pool…
Event Menu
Aug. 3-9
Texas Platters
Mice & Rifles All Kites Up The tension underlying Mice & Rifles’ debut EP is encapsulated in Kevin Brinkkoeter’s husky voice set against droning keys and swooning guitar. Barren horizons open up only to be collapsed by drums and Brinkkoeter, as with the dark wax and wane of “Telegrams” and “I Can Tell.” “Balance” crackles…
Kill-a-Watt Challenge Champs
Drumroll, please! The results from the first month of The Austin Chronicle Kill-a-Watt Challenge are in. Ten businesses and 563 people signed on in June, allowing Austin Energy to compare participants’ June electricity use from this summer to that of last year, and the participants with the highest savings are our inaugural winners. This group…
‘Radical Nautical’: Awash in water works
For its annual juried show, Gallery Lombardi asked artists to dive into the fantastical and mythical depths of the ocean
For TLC, With a Little TLC
Is a local production company that recently finished its first documentary too good to be true?
Attack of the Crickets
UT suffering under plague of field crickets
‘AlienNation’: Making cabrito of immigration scapegoating
In its first new show in two years, Austin’s Latino Comedy Project roasts the immigration debate
The Simpsons Movie
The film delivers familiar hilarity and some treats you’ll never get on the show (nudity and drunkenness) but steers shy of anything bold and new.
TV Eye
Indie Accomplishments
Naked City
Quote of the Week “If we’re not supposed to eat animals, how come they’re made out of meat?” – Late-night talk-show maestro Tom Snyder, who died July 29 at 71 Headlines •The Republican Party of Texas hammered another nail in its 2008 coffin this week, naming the once-powerful and currently obsolete Talmadge Heflin to lead…
ColdTowne: Home on the strange
When it comes to the improvisers of ColdTowne, you’re in for a really enjoyable time watching these guys do their stuff
Who’s Your Caddy?
Hip-hop culture invades the golf course in this instantly disposable and not terribly funny comedy.
Jasper’s Gourmet Backyard Cuisine
The Dallas destination opens in Austin’s domain
The Hightower Report
New Grounds for Leaving Iraq; and Strengthen the FDA
Local Businesses’ ADA Compliance Questioned
Texas Civil Rights Project launches barrage of lawsuits against businesses it alleges are failing to comply with ADA statutes requiring equal access for persons with disabilities
Arts Reviews
If you go see the Vestige Group production of Cindy Lou Johnson’s Brilliant Traces, go for the performances
I Know Who Killed Me
Lindsay Lohan knows there are fates worse than her current legal quagmire – starring in this clunker, for example.
Sazón
Huitlacoche!
Media Watch: Bow Chica Wow-Wow
The life and times of a porn-music impresario
Ex-TCEQ Employees Lose Discrimination Lawsuit
Two former state employees lose discrimination suit
Arts Reviews
Martin McDonagh’s A Skull in Connemara teeters between the absurd and the just plain silly
The Bourne Ultimatum
The third film in this series is the best one yet about the rogue CIA spook with the memory of a goldfish.
Rockabye Baby
Rockabye baby, on the treetops, when the bow breaks, the cradle will rawk!
Words for Words
Spoken-word artists on their art form, the National Poetry Slam, and one another
All Hail Texas!
Texas emits more globe-warming carbon dioxide than any other state in the nation, by a long shot
Arts Reviews
Lingo‘s mosaic of dance and music was accessible, unpretentious, and full of life – much like its creators
Hot Rod
Cross Napoleon Dynamite‘s endearing optimism with Ben Stiller’s total commitment to his goofy characters, and you’ll wind up with a character something like Andy Samberg’s hapless stuntman.
Luv Doc Recommends: Flaming Lips Hoot Night
If you don’t own a Hummer, get one. You deserve it. Plus, it’s really one of the few joys left that poor people still have … other than maybe crystal meth and evangelical Protestantism. All these bourgeoisie tree huggers whizzing around in their godnearlydamned, whisper quiet, 50-mile-per-gallon hybrids are slowing down the apocalypse, which everyone…
