Cover Story
The Real Crash Davis
Alan Zinter of the Round Rock Express still lives the big-league dream
UT Lady Longhorns: Preseason Impressions
As noted in the print edition, the Lady Longhorns are back in action this week; practices are open to the public: Aug. 10-22, 8-10:30am and 8-9:30pm at Mike A. Myers Stadium (times are approximate and subject to change). The Horns also play an exhibition game against UT-San Antonio, 7pm Friday, Aug. 18, before opening their…
European Report:
European Champions League, Third Qualifying Round First Leg results, Aug. 6-7 Most of the favorites came through unscathed in their first tests of the season. A few highlights: Liverpool waited to the 87th minute before scoring the winner over Israel’s Maccabi Haifa at home; for security reasons, that return leg will be played in either…
Arts Review
The ‘Summer Group Show’ at Lora Reynolds Gallery is a departure from the strong exhibits it has mounted so far, a gap in the norm that suggests the pressures galleries are under to produce cohesive exhibits
Toby Futrell’s Budget
The staff-proposed city budget goes to council, with both breathing and wiggle room
Slam as It Ever Was
The nationals come to Austin amid the polarizing medium’s 20th anniversary
Readings
An intriguing history of one of Austin’s longtime political and literary contributors
The Descent
Urban professionals go spelunking in an attempt to wipe away old horrors, only to find some new ones to call their own.
Weed Watch
Orrin Hatch, drug law reformer?
The National Poetry Slam
Aug. 9-12 in Austin
Page Two: Old Dogs, New Kicks
The past is a lie, and the future is unknowable – but we think it has something to do with the Internet
The Cult of Pitchfork
How former record-store clerks and obsessive music nerds turned a Web site into a hit machine
Bell Blasts Perry for Underfunded Parks
Crisis predates current administration, but Dem says guv could have prodded Lege
August Madness
Opening bouts
Letters @ 3AM
The greatest danger to Israel, in the long term, is its dependence on the United States
The Night Listener
This taut, wiry exercise in eerie bad vibes, about a writer-cum-radio personality and a disturbing teenage literary sensation, is emotionally dense but never fully takes flight.
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
‘Red Cans’
The performers in ‘Red Cans’ have to stuff themselves into tiny laundry hampers where they can’t see, must use their arms to walk, and get horribly cramped and bruised, but you won’t hear them complain
John Tucker Must Die
Teen female-revenge comedy doesn’t live up to the edginess promised by its title.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Will Ferrell runs comic circles around NASCAR.
State Highway 130
The 174 square miles along and near the tollway corridor in Austin’s extraterritorial jurisdiction have limited curb appeal for city
‘Psycho Beach Party’
Coming soon to theatres near you will be two productions of Charles Busch’s camp classic ‘Psycho Beach Party’ – but despite having the same title, they’ll be surprisingly different
After a Fashion
Your Style Avatar will tell you who’s a designer and who isn’t, thank you very much, and who to vote for, while we’re at it
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
Yet another computer-animated film about talking animals offers a fine message for the kids, but little originality.
Public Benefits, Privatization Problems
Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System still fraught with challenges as privately run call centers struggle to handle thousands of needy clients.
Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center
Getting a place of one’s own is always cause for celebration, which is why the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center is throwing a big shindig
Day Trips
The XIT Ranch was to Texas ranches what Dell Inc. is to computer manufacturers
Phases & Stages
PeachesEmo’s, July 29 Peaches is the forbidden fruit of pop music, promising sexual liberation and self-awareness to those daring enough to partake in her provocative and pornographic electrotrash. Saturday night at Emo’s, the sold-out crowd devoured every bit of her raunchy grime raps and raucous burlesque bits. The 39-year-old Canadian siren, once known as Merrill…
District 31 Race Heats Up
Republican two-term incumbent John Carter and Democratic challenger Mary Beth Harrell duking it out
Review: Hyde Park Theatre’s Radio :30
Chris Earle’s psychological drama ‘Radio :30’ shows how advertising works, through a deejay’s emotional collapse while he’s recording a spot for a burger joint
To Your Health
Are there any solid studies to show that the ‘new’ Litozin rose hips can alleviate or even ‘cure’ osteoarthritis?
The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green
This story of a young man in search of Mr. Right has a certain scrappy underdog charm but doesn’t flout any aspects of the romantic-comedy formula.
Hurricane Housing Limbo Update
FEMA’s newest housing assistance extensions buy Texas’ more than 100,000 hurricane evacuee families a little more time
The Common Law
Privacy rights and selling photos
Phases & Stages
Comets on FireAvatar (Sub Pop) Comets on Fire have finally gotten a handle on their big, hot noise. Avatar, the band’s third full-length, sparks up immediately with the churning of “Dogwood Rust,” complete with a patented Comets on Fire freak-out/breakdown at the end. Singer/guitarist Ethan Miller’s vocals have become more focused, descending into a blues…
Bicyclists Collide in Helmet Law Debate
Former mayor spars with cycling activist over forcing headgear for riders
Soccer Watch
Barcelona and Ronaldinho pay a visit to Houston, and more
Shadowboxer
Not reviewed at press time. Stars Çuba Gooding Jr. and Helen Mirren as passionate yet unlikely lovers, as well as assassins and stepmother and stepson. And if that’s not enough drama, one of them also has a fatal disease.
Point Austin: Whose Budget?
The council asks for a new budget, and Futrell delivers the same old bill
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Kickin’ it at fairy camp and where to send your salami
Phases & Stages
Ali Farka Toure Savane (World Circuit/Nonesuch) When the great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure passed away in March at age 67, he left us with one of his most accomplished recordings. Bridging the physical and spiritual expanse between West African tradition and American blues innovation, Savane paints a vivid picture of Toure’s Niafunké as a…
Beside The Point
Council approves contract for design of Water Treatment Plant No. 4, despite lingering endangered-species questions
Oops!
Our latest batch
Phases & Stages
Golden SmogAnother Fine Day (Lost Highway) When last we left Golden Smog (1998’s Weird Tales), Soul Asylum was derailed by colossal misfire Let Your Dim Light Shine, Wilco was about to shed its rootsy cocoon with Summerteeth, and the Jayhawks were on temporary leave from dominating AAA playlists. Now the Jayhawks are no more, Soul…
The Hightower Report
How Things Work in Texas; and Giants Leeching on SBA
Wine Trips From Marble Falls
Seventeen wineries, so little time
Phases & Stages
Tapes ‘n TapesThe Loon (XL Records) It’s a story to warm the hearts of wannabe rockers still incubating dreams in their parents’ garages: The Minneapolis quartet Tapes ‘n Tapes recorded and released their debut, The Loon, on their own steam last fall and had record labels knocking within a week. Fast-forward less than a year…
Amid Yahootinis and Freebies, a Focus on the Future
BlogHer in San Jose
Cuisines String
Eleven more reasons to make a trip to Marble Falls
The Hill Country Fall Fest & Wine Auction
Sept. 15-17
Phases & Stages
Mexico was better represented by the high-powered pachuco mosh of Maldita Vecindad at Antone’s recently than by their fútbol team at the World Cup. Argentina has its own issues. Argentine actress Juana Molina’s fourth disc, Son (Domino), makes a perfect blind date for Thom Yorke’s The Eraser. Her electro-emotionalism, intimate and whispery, tangles more organic,…
History Repeats?
Nueva Onda Movie Night
TCB
Brothers & Sisters’ good vibrations, Awesome Cool Dudes’ uncool misfortune, and ‘Rockstar’ Patrice Pike gives Dave Navarro the what-for
Food-o-File
Our apologies to 888 Vietnamese
Having Your Baby
The anti-choice “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” are spending taxpayer funds on misinformation, scare tactics – or nothing
TV Eye
Alternate realties, other lives
Arts Review
In the Coda Theater Project production of ‘The Play About the Baby,’ the actors deliver Edward Albee’s brilliant and dreamlike play cleanly and clearly
Event Menu
Hot: the Iberian Peninsula and eating for a good cause
Pregnant? Need Help? Don’t Call Us.
Since Texas Pregnancy Care Network counseling materials have not yet been released, the Chronicle decided to make a few calls to see what kind of information area “crisis pregnancy centers” are currently providing. We recruited a local woman, who agreed to pose as a scared, confused, and pregnant 17-year-old, and listened in on her calls…
NEWS UPDATE: Court Releases Redistricting Map
More of Travis in Doggett�s district
Luv Doc Recommends: Bruce Robison
South Austin, Texas, is about the only place in the world where people have the chutzpah to go country dancing in sandals. Part of the reason is that it’s hot down South … crazy hot, hot like flu breath, hot like a Harley muffler, hot like a hooker’s crotch. But it’s hot a lot of…
