PLUS: Vote Now in Best of Austin • Summer Camps

The Luv Doc: Prissy Asses

Dear Luv Doc, So … I’m watching Gunsmoke, you know that Western television show that lasted for 20 years. I think along with M*A*S*H, it is probably the two longest lasting shows in TV history. Anyway, so this chick shoots a guy in the ass with a shotgun because she’s in love with him! Twenty…

by The Luv Doc

Ouija

Hasbro’s soothsaying board is the MacGuffin in this teen horror film.

by Marc Savlov

Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a terrifically fierce performance as a tenacious and delusional self-actualizer.

by William Goss

Horns

Daniel Radcliffe sprouts horns in this spiky fable about the devil in all of us.

by Steve Davis

Whiplash

A student’s desire to become a better drummer comes at the cost of becoming a supplicant to a monstrous teacher.

by Kimberley Jones

Texas Platters

Eric Johnson Europe Live (Mascot) Eric Johnson and Mike Stern Eclectic (Heads Up) Guitar star Eric Johnson traverses three decades’ worth of catalog on concert retrospective Europe Live. Joined by stalwart accompanists Chris Maresh and Wayne Salzmann II, the Austin native hits all the obvious signposts (“Zap,” “Cliffs of Dover”) and classics in training (“Zenland,”…

by Michael Toland

Soccer Watch

Friday is Senior Night for Texas Soccer, as they host Oklahoma State at 7pm in the regular season finale on Halloween. Say farewell to the senior class of Julie Arnold, Brooke Gilbert, Cierra Grubbs, Whitney Jaynes, Sharis Lachappelle, and Ava Vogel. Enjoy free trading cards and face-painting for kids, and costumes are encouraged… The Horns…

by Nick Barbaro

Headlines

City Council next meets Nov. 6 – an ominous two days after an election that will shuffle the members – with a return to CodeNEXT, the long-awaited “coyote management plan,” and a remodeled City Hall. See “Council,” Oct. 31, 2014. Mayor Lee Leffingwell endorsed Steve Adler as his successor Monday, saying Adler has the “gravitas,…

by Chronicle Staff

Hornography

Texas makes the trip to Lubbock this weekend with the lowest expectations they could possibly carry. The Longhorns are a 24.5-point underdog to the Red Raiders, and we swear that ain’t a typo. Maybe someone could explain how a team like Texas Tech, who’s coming off of a 55-point loss to TCU, can be a…

by Eric Sollenberger

Texas Platters

After 44 years of singing Bayou blues, Marcia Ball proves she can reinvent herself with a keystroke. Accompanied by a burst of brass, Austin’s longtime ivory merchant pounds torrid tales of The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man and their sideshow endeavors on her fifth release for Alligator Records. Follow-up to the straight arrow Roadside…

by Nina Hernandez

Formula One

Smaller engine, same power. F1 cars have always pushed the technological envelope, but this year, you can hear the difference. Gone is the signature “jam jar full of angry hornets” shriek of the old eight-cylinder 2.3 liter engine, replaced with the trilling purr of the newly mandated six-cylinder 1.6 liter. A lot of fans and…

by Richard Whittaker

Civics 101

Thursday 30 Rally Against St. Elmo’s Lofts Residents, business owners and employees from the East Congress neighborhood and St. Elmo Industrial District will protest a proposed change in zoning of the historical industrial district to mixed-use residential. 10-11am. intersection of Industrial Blvd. & S. Congress. www.nocondoshere.com. Austin’s Declining African-American Population UT Professor Eric Tang will…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

In yesteryears, drummers of Brannen Temple’s caliber claimed very public starring roles as bandleaders. By way of his namesake band, the Austinite follows in the footsteps of Art Blakey, Chick Webb, and Buddy Rich on the kaleidoscopic New Dawn. A cosmic Temple descends on the opening “Drum Solo,” establishing his presence from the jump. Firmly…

by Kahron Spearman

Party Party Party on Election Night

The Chronicle will be providing live election-night coverage at austinchronicle.com/daily/news and on Twitter @ACnewsdesk. Use #ACvotes to send us your voting selfies, election-night party pictures, and, of course, your opinions. Below are a few of the larger election night parties taking place in Austin; visit austinchronicle.com/elections for a more comprehensive, updated list. Travis County Democrats…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Sharon Jones’ new millennial emergence put sweet soul music back into the mainstream. Not only did the Brooklyn dynamo’s indie rock favor throw the spotlight back on forgotten elders Bettye LaVette, Charles Bradley, and Lee Fields, it sparked seminal new acts including Jones’ Dap-Kings and Mayer Hawthorne. Welcome Soul Track Mind to the latter stable.…

by Raoul Hernandez

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

The word “awful” used to mean a positive thing (“worthy of awe”). Barry Manilow’s hit song “Mandy” was originally titled “Brandy,” but Looking Glass’ song “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” hit the airwaves first (1972), prompting Manilow to change the name. According to BBC, Hong Kong is the city with the most Rolls-Royces per capita.…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Record Review

Free Yourself (12XU) Time to amend all Flesh Lights-related documents and strike out the word “garage.” That musical lexeme defies the precision and composition quality showcased on the local trio’s second fling – a fast-rock treasure. Of course they’re still mischievous punks named after a male masturbation enhancer. That remains on topical songs including Jeremy…

by Kevin Curtin

Texas Platters

On third effort Provoked, Sunny Sweeney tackles all the emotions she’s cycled through since her breakthrough, 2011’s Concrete. The Houston native’s suffered enough professional and personal hard knocks to fill a novel yet manages to whittle it all down to 13 songs with swagger, wit, and a touch of vulnerability. Like a 21st century Loretta…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

Phoebe Hunt wears many masks as frontwoman for the Gatherers. They’re a little pop, a little jazz, and a lot of shades of country. Alongside fellow Belleville Outfit veteran Connor Forsyth, the Brooklyn-via-Austin crooner explores several influences on Walk With Me, but never quite manages to set any roots deep enough. As the album title…

by Abby Johnston

Texas Platters

He’s not talking about the state of Texas. You see Ben Ballinger needs help. Sonically, the young balladeer’s fifth collection of songs doesn’t stray far from his previous work, only now he finds himself desperate and alone. While striving for the same soulful Americana touched on by Ray LaMontagne and Ryan Adams, the Oregon transplant…

by Jim Caligiuri

How Much for a Trustee Seat?

In an election cycle with tens of millions of dollars floating around at the statewide level, a few thousand bucks seems like a rounding error. But in Austin Independent School District elections, that’s the difference between solvency and a vanity candidacy. The final filings (eight-day-out) in this year’s trustee elections see a strange shift in…

by Richard Whittaker

Texas Platters

Originated in southern California and having made its last two discs in Brooklyn, Delta Spirit now calls Austin home. Bandleader Matt Vasquez grew up in Central Texas so it’s not a random move. His group, however, has morphed into something totally unexpected. Into the Wide, the quintet’s fourth LP, transforms Delta Spirit from something sunny…

by Jim Caligiuri

Who’s Backing Whom

In our quest to provide you with as much local voting information as possible, we’ve listed each candidate’s endorsements at austinchronicle.com/elections/candidates. We’ve gathered some of the more significant endorsements here. Austin Chronicle Mayor: Martinez District 1: Houston District 2: Garza District 3: Renteria District 4: Casar District 5: Kitchen District 6: Flannigan District 7: Boyt/Pool…

by Chronicle Staff

Exhibitionism

Mythologies and fables cover the walls of grayDUCK Gallery in this show by Megan Kimber and Adrian Landon Brooks

by W. A. Brenner

Texas Platters

Whiskey Shivers’ third LP finds the ragged Austin bunch working with a producer for the first time: Robert Ellis, the Houston native whose gritty February release The Lights From the Chemical Plant made him an excitable name in country circles. Ellis helped knob that album and took full production responsibilities on his 2011 step-out Photographs…

by Chase Hoffberger

Texas Platters

After years of splitting time between the Big Apple and the live music capital, anachronistic chanteuse Kat Edmonson made the transition to full-time New Yorker. The move took her beyond the Austin wine bars and coffee shops where she paid her dues and landed TV ads with Coca-Cola and Zales. Now, the Houston native’s third…

by Abby Johnston

Texas Platters

Equally versed in progressive blues and smartass alt-rock, Churchwood remains a band Austin deserves. Poetry professor Joe Doerr channels his wordplay through gravel-gargling magnificence. Based in but not bound by blues, guitarists Billysteve Korpi and Bill Anderson miscegenate riffs that could power the songs on their own, making terms like “lead” and “rhythm” meaningless. Adam…

by Michael Toland

Texas Platters

The PC crowd’s eyes might bug over the cover art of Blxpltn’s debut full-length, a Sambo-esque policeman igniting a wooden cross, but such provocations are inherent to these righteous electro-punks’ mission of waking you up to political oppression and racial inequality. The local outfit’s nine-song clip of anti-authority anthems fires a kill shot with “Train…

by Kevin Curtin

Texas Platters

Psychedelic rock now suffers from bands that have never gotten within 10 feet of an altered state of mind or an occult ritual. Not so the Well. Samsara, the Austin trio’s first full-length, scans as conceived during astral travels and recorded on another plane. Point track “Mortal Bones” signs the contract immediately, rhythm roiling between…

by Michael Toland

Quote of the Week

“This is America – that’s why.” – Drunken homophobe McCleish Christmas Benham explains why he randomly assaulted a fellow passenger in DFW airport who he thought was gay.

by Chronicle Staff

Recent

See all

Gift this article