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Texas Book Festival

Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 4-5, 2017 Texas State Capitol www.texasbookfestival.org Tens of thousands of book lovers throng the Texas State Capitol and surrounding grounds every year to celebrate the written word. Founded in 1995, the two-day fest brings to town 300 authors from across the globe and includes readings, panel discussions, cooking demos, live music, and food…

by Chronicle Staff

East Austin Studio Tour

Nov. 11-12 & Nov. 18-19, 2017 east.bigmedium.org Austin’s annual (and free!) autumn art marathon kicks open the doors to almost 500 studios, galleries, and exhibition spaces on the east side of I-35. It’s a great way to stretch your legs (walking or biking is encouraged) and an even better way to build your art appreciation…

by Chronicle Staff

The Gift

Joel Edgerton moves to the director’s chair for this white-knuckle suspenser

by Marc Savlov

Phases & Stages

On her 2013 debut, Same Trailer Different Park, East Texas native Kacey Musgraves became the woman who might finally save mainstream country from itself. Eschewing Top 40 twang’s shellacked production as well as God-and-guns patriotism, she adopted a gritty, unfettered small-band approach. Pageant Material maintains those standards, but spruced-up production and the “aw shucks” wonderment…

by Abby Johnston

Phases & Stages

Like Springsteen, the Stones have begun legitimizing public-domain bootlegs. This taping for 150-200 in London thus shelves next to previous promo stunt The Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus. Launching Sticky Fingers three years later, Mick Jagger resembles Ava Gardner while Keith Richards looks criminal, but the Glimmer Twins’ harmonies on C&W stingray “Dead Flowers”…

by Raoul Hernandez

Phases & Stages

Alongside Beantown brats Aerosmith, J. Geils dished the best second-generation Stones the U.S. had to offer. Heating up 9,000 Germans for Patti Smith, Johnny Winter, and concert tapers Rockpalast in 1979, Peter Wolf’s jive dates quicker than Afros and leather, but that year’s Sanctuary shucks enough genuine soul to top the quintet’s survivalist discography. Six-stringer…

by Raoul Hernandez

Phases & Stages

If a spring corker at the Erwin Center counts, it took the Two – Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend – three-plus decades to perfect the farewell tour. Their first, for 10th and last album with “thunderfingers” bassist John Entwistle, It’s Hard, paired them with the Clash at a New York ballpark. Appropriately, they – plus…

by Raoul Hernandez

Phases & Stages

How to follow the supersized success of 2013’s Southeastern? Sonically, fifth stab Something More Than Free fits neatly into Jason Isbell’s folk, rock, and country, with the occasional emotional guitar outburst. Where Southeastern followed a stint in rehab, dealing with sobriety and the search for stability, here he tackles adult themes of the day-to-day. The…

by Jim Caligiuri

Phases & Stages

As Jim James chants the title of “Believe (Nobody Knows)” to a swollen close in leading off his Kentucky quintet’s seventh studio album, it’s as much a declaration of intent as of faith. Anthemic and sweeping, the opener serves as proper invocation to the Church of MMJ, and following the reset of 2011’s Circuital and…

by Doug Freeman

Phases & Stages

Willie Nelson and Neil Young go back at least as far as 1985’s initial Farm Aid, but nobody could’ve imagined the latter collaborating with the former’s sons. Lukas and Micah Nelson weren’t even born yet! The brothers’ Promise of the Real stomps like Young’s Crazy Horse – guitars howling – but they bring out something…

by Jim Caligiuri

“Kira Lynn Harris: Glittering Dystopias”

It’s amazing what a coat of paint can do to a gallery. In the instance of Kira Lynn Harris’ “Glittering Dystopias,” it’s the transformative power of a matte black nightscape that engulfs Women & Their Work’s gallery walls. The exhibition strikes a distinctly new tone for the often-bright space: Now a moody scene unfolds with…

by Caitlin Greenwood

Phases & Stages

Flexing unconventional brawn, Wilco debuted its spontaneous ninth LP with a zero-dollar price tag. From the moment guitarist Nels Cline’s madcap m.o. emerges on cantankerous instrumental opener “EKG,” zany space jams betray no trace of the Chicagoans’ alt.country roots. Early on, glam sing-along “More…” and playful rocker “Random Name Generator” guarantee festival appeasement, while jovial…

by Neph Basedow

Phases & Stages

Folk inheritors Sam Beam and Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell team up for an eclectic set of covers that falls flat on its face. From the outset on Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place,” the pair sucks the life and adventure from 12 reworkings. Whereas Iron & Wine’s past lo-fi covers revealed new…

by Doug Freeman

Soccer Watch

The Austin Aztex suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss Saturday to Portland Timbers 2, in front of a record crowd of 5,146 at Kelly Reeves Stadium, despite outplaying the Timbers for most of the game and creating the better scoring chances. With teams in front of them in the standings winning, the Aztex are now six…

by Nick Barbaro

Cabs Throughout the Years

In the beginning … there were three cab companies: Roy’s, Deluxe, and Harlem. 1984: Harlem Cab is sold to the Means family, becomes Austin Cab. 1985: American Cab company is founded. 1995: American buys Yellow Cab franchise, becomes American Yellow Checker Cab. 2003: Texas Taxi purchases Yellow Cab and rebrands as Yellow Cab. 2007: Roy’s…

by Chronicle Staff

Headlines

City Council resumes regular meetings today (Aug. 6) with a few high-profile matters on the agenda: Council members hope to approve some compromise on the Fun Fun Fun Fest use of the redesigned Auditorium Shores, wrangling over wage and tax questions, and a potential ban on circus elephant bullhooks. See “Council: Are We Having Fun…

by Chronicle Staff

Quote of the Week

“He has engaged in outright deception to personally profit at others’ expense. These qualities make him dangerously unfit to be attorney general.” – Craig McDonald, Texans for Public Justice director, on AG Ken Paxton’s three felony indictments

by Chronicle Staff

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

They have “how to make your penis bigger” sites on the Deep Web. According to Jane Ziegelman of New York’s Tenement Museum, pickles were seen – by a nation on its way to Prohibition – as a compulsion for those too young to drink alcohol. They were often classified as a “stimulant,” along with coffee,…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

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