Cover Story
Mask Instructions
1) Wake up refreshed, despite your touch of rheumatism, and apply talcum powder all over your wrinkly (but well-preserved) body with that gorgeous chinchilla puff the twins gave you, those darling little angels. If you absolutely must indulge in your morning Ensure, please, do so in the pantry. Canned breakfast shakes are a bit common,…
The Common Law
When can the police search my car?
Texas Platters
Silver JewsTanglewood Numbers (Drag City) With its master tapes barely avoiding destruction in a fire that gutted Memphis’ famed Easley McCain Recording Studio in May, the Silver Jews’ fifth album may well be an honest-to-goodness token of charm. For Tanglewood Numbers, bandleader/poet and one-time Dallasite David Berman assembled a rotating lineup that includes Pavement guitarist…
Lights Out After School?
If federal funding gets cut, AISD could lose after-school programs
TV Eye
I could offer the usual list of Halloween fare. Instead, I offer a list of good scary and bad scary things on the small screen.
All Lit Up
Previewing the 10th Texas Book Festival
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Termites. A thousand million of them.
This Ain’t No Picnic: Minutemen on Patrol
The sinister legions of the ‘Drug Cartel’ have little to fear from the latest incarnation of border hysteria. As for the rest of us …
Lost in Privacy Policy
FEMA regulations actually hinder Katrina victims from contacting loved ones
TCB
The Astros’ World Series run prompts memories from longtime fans, and memories of smoking in local bars will stay just that
Day Trips
The faithful and the curious make the trek to the shrine of faith healer Don Pedrito Jaramillo just east of Falfurrias
The Feds Do Immigration
The immigration debate is a heated one that raises serious questions: What does it mean, exactly, to be an American citizen? Are there jobs “Americans won’t do” – or for which U.S. industry prefers cut-rate workers? How is nationality linked to human worth? People have very different answers to these questions. Yet all sides generally…
Group Says Prop. 2 Could Make Straight Marriage Illegal
And the Klan supports it, too!
Capote
While Capote is a good film, it hasn’t closed the book on the subject, even though the performances are undeniably great.
Americamisfit: Rock & Revolt
Dan Dietz’s new play ‘Americamisfit’ may get you to question the way we Americans romanticize the sudden, violent change of revolution
Soccer Watch
The Lady Longhorns lose their chance for a regular-season title
Action for Immigrants
ACLU Legal Observing: El Paso: Claudia Guevara, ACLU of Texas, 915/532-0921 x27 Falfurrias: Yvonne Montejano, AFSC, 474-2399 American Friends Service Committee The AFSC and the Coalition for Justice and Dignity in Austin have brought the fight against the Minutemen to Austin. On Nov. 3, City Council will hear the Coalition’s proposed resolution for the council…
Polygamous Prophet Sighting
Fugitive FLDS leader allegedly spotted at a Utah Cabela’s
Three … Extremes
This lush and horrific anthology film from three of the finest craftsmen working today – Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park, and Takashi Miike – is an instantly memorable and squirm-inducing assemblage.
The Essential Chopin: A Genius Displaced
In advance of her Oct. 30 program, the Essential Chopin, pianist Mary Robbins talks about Chopin and Mozart, and what makes for essential Chopin
Oops!
This year’s “Best of Austin” issue, Oct. 14, included a few mistakes. Corrections appear below: • Common Interest (Readers Arts & Entertainment: Karaoke) recently suffered a fire and is temporarily closed. Watch their Web site, www.ciaustin.com, for time and date of grand reopening festivities. • Armstrong Community School’s (Critics Arts & Entertainment: Classical Music Education…
Life After Todd Baxter
Baxter leaves the Lege, and would-be state reps may have to jockey for position early
Point Austin: The Prosecutor and the Pariah
Don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to feel sorry for Tom DeLay
Saw II
With nary a decent, connective character in sight, this nasty sequel quickly becomes little more than a strenuous battle for survival among the already damned.
State Theater Company: Kanoff Terminated
Just two weeks into what was to be his sixth season with the State Theater Company, Scott Kanoff was booted from his job as producing artistic director
Special Blend
888’s fine Vietnamese fare deftly seasons the classic with the contemporary
Ngai Found Insane – What Now?
Without reform, Texas’ mental health system might fail killer of piano teacher again
The Hightower Report
Fifty percent of Americans say they want Congress to consider impeaching Bush if he lied about his reasons for invading Iraq; and while Big Oil gouges America, Congress gives refiners new tax breaks and anti-pollution requirement exemptions
The Legend of Zorro
Whereas the Zorro of yore was a cunning subversive with a libidinous guerrilla panache, this new take with a tyke added is more like Leave It to Zorro.
Culture Flash!
A national economist discusses the role of the arts in regional vitality, the LBJ celebrates the NEA at 40, Miami City Ballet cancels a show, and the Blanton Museum delays its grand opening
B.D. Riley’s Irish Pub
The perfectly pulled imperial pint of Smithwick’s Ale was all I needed
Paul Rusesabagina: Human Rights in Action
Real-life hero of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ is honored for saving lives
City of Chillin’
How my attempt at hard-core gaming proved too hard
Prime
With genuine sparks between its two lovestruck leads and a delightfully flinchy performance from Meryl Streep, this comedy is just what its title implies: prime.
Arts Review
In Zach’s original production ‘Keepin’ It Weird,’ Dave Steakley displays examples of Austin weirdness as lovable freaks in self-referential spectacle
Liquid Assets
The best wine discoveries of the past few months
Council Notes
Toll roads and trash dumps on the council agenda
Austin Game Conference
October 27-28
The Weather Man
In this heartfelt comic drama, a wonderfully controlled Nicolas Cage plays a man who, despite the appearance of success, is despondent over his superficiality.
Arts Review
October is a fitting time for the Vortex to premiere Chad Salvata’s opera ‘Vampyress,’ about a ghoulish countess who killed 600 women so she could bathe in their blood
Food-o-File
A Majestic future for Grape Vine Market? Plus: Noodle-ism and Mangia aren’t just local favorites.
Endorsements
No on everything. Double no on Proposition 2.
Player’s Guide
Real news for your virtual existence
G
This Hamptons-set hip-hop story about love and success is modeled after The Great Gatsby.
Arts Review
Lora Reynolds Gallery’s first group show, ‘Suspended Narratives,’ is a cleverly developed grouping of artworks that have obscure or hard-to-find meanings
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Out of Austin’s primordial music past comes John Andrews with tales from the music hall of legends
Smartbomb
‘Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution’
Separate Lies
Julian Fellowes is two for two: The English actor’s first big screenwriting credit, Gosford Park, netted him an Oscar, and with this directorial debut, he again demonstrates a mastery of British uppercrust dramas.
Finding the Write Word
This year’s Texas Book Festival has expanded to include more Latino-themed books, to be discussed on a number of bilingual and Spanish-language panels. Among these is one on translation, which brings California-based Nina Marie Martínez, author of Caramba! (now out in paperback from Anchor). Set in fictional Lava Landing, a composite of several California farming…
Outta the Bag
John Cale loosens a new ‘Black Acetate’ on the unsuspecting underground
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
God Help Us
Austinite Stephen Romano’s psychotic collaboration with Don Coscarelli launches Showtime’s ‘Masters of Horror’ series
‘Above Us Only Sky’
Had Marion Winik not lost her purse in the late Eighties, she might never have written for the The Austin Chronicle. That incident and the subsequent article led, in a more or less crooked path through motherhood, personal loss, and career success, to her current book nearly 20 years later, Above Us Only Sky. A…
Texas Platters
Billy Joe Shaver The Real Deal (Compadre) Billy Joe Shaver is the toughest musician in Texas if not on the planet. He’s been penning influential tunes for over half of his 66 years, and his fans include Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley. Still, it ain’t been easy…
Sexing Up Sealants
Leffingwell proposes a ban on commonly used parking lot material
Austin Asian Film Festival 2
Nov. 3-6
Page Two
Watching the watchmen
Texas Platters
Slim Thug, Chamillionaire, Paul WallAustin Music Hall, Oct. 19 Texas rappers being treated as superstars translated into caravans of oversized SUVs shuttling artists in and out of the Austin Music Hall receiving area Wednesday night, the syrupy glitz of Hot 93.3’s annual “Meltdown” spilling onto the street. Inside, out-of-towners including Miami’s Smitty, Baton Rouge’s Webbie,…
Green Energy Stars Get Their Props
Companies and utilities recognized for commitment to renewable energy
At the Austin Film Festival
Harold Ramis and Mike Judge receive awards; plus, go to www.austinfilmfestival.com for a list of film competition winners
Letters at 3AM
With oil in the future rationed to agriculture, essential services, and (inevitably) the military, and personal long-distance driving and passenger flight no longer feasible – then, if the United States is to remain a continental entity, the only answer is trains
Texas Platters
When members of bands do a solo album, the result is often disastrous, the result of trying to “grow” and “find yourself.” Shawn McMillen and Bobby Baker of local band Rubble have both recently put out “solo” albums that “grow” in very different directions; what they’ve “found” is some weird third-eye astral plane skuzz vibes.…
Zeroing in on Our Throwaway Culture
City committee dreams of a waste-free Austin
‘SXSW Presents’: ‘The Wilgus Stories’
‘The Wilgus Stories’
After a Fashion
Stephen is deep in fall fashion benefits. ‘Tis the season!
Texas Platters
Jud NewcombByzantine (Curium/Freedom) Since he’s remarkably active as a producer and guitarist for the likes of the Resentments, Ian McLagan, Beaver Nelson, Matt the Electrician, and too many others to mention, you might forget that Austin music scene staple “Scrappy” Jud Newcomb is a talented songwriter. Byzantine, his second album, is not only his best…
Parents Wonder: Is Briseño’s Blood on Austin High’s Hands?
Administration could have done more before and after student was killed, critics charge
‘Secuestro Express’
Jonathan Jakubowicz and Elizabeth Avellán on ‘Secuestro Express’
To Your Health
Is erythritol a natural sweetener, and how does it compare in safety to sucralose?
Texas Platters
Okkervil RiverBlack Sheep Boy Appendix (Jagjaguwar) Will Sheff is branching out. Not that Austin’s poet laureate ever boxed himself in, but on the new mini album companion to this year’s superlative Black Sheep Boy, Sheff’s Okkervil River takes a cue from Broken Social Scene, adding pump organ, harp, strings, horns, and handclaps to the guitar,…
Preservation Politics
Changes in personnel and direction at the Historic Landmark Commission
DVD Watch
This most impolite of directors attacks the most polite of genres in a way that makes it feel like her own creation, and pays tribute to her source by bringing it so ferociously to life
Luv Doc Recommends: Halloween on Sixth Street
Halloween on a Monday? This is Bullshit. Somebody needs to put in a call to the Pope or maybe Satan, or at the very least Satan’s press Secretary, Scott McClellan and get this deal worked out. Then again, it’s obvious that the deep thinkers at the Vatican and the White House have already dropped the…
