Cover Story
Kalu James’ Psychedelic Awakening
Nigerian folkie fully realizes cosmic blues-rock
If It Ain’t Bruch, Don’t Fix It
Just a drummer from Iowa? Just a culinary badass? Hold his beer.
Happy End
Michael Haneke creates a mosaic of French bourgeois life.
Holiday Viewing: The Nightmare Before Christmas
A holiday hybrid for outcasts
Music Legacy Project
Riders Against the Storm MC mentors media hopefuls
Holiday Viewing: The Gospel According to St. Matthew
“The most sublime Texts ever written”
Austin Film Festival Puts Diversity First
Writer-focused fest plans to amplify more unheard voices
Indicted Former Firefighter’s Court Hearing Postponed
Jim Baker’s court appearance rescheduled for Jan. 17
Holiday Viewing: Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick’s lovely holiday tale of marriage and orgies
Holiday Viewing: Remember the Night
The key to a merry Christmas is a shoplifter in the house
Beerland Handed Down
Austin Jukebox group takes over Red River punk cavity
Holiday Viewing: Downton Abbey Christmas Specials
We rank the holidays with the Crawley family
Weekend Wine
Sparkling Wines, But Let’s Keep it Cheap!
Holiday Viewing: Diner
Or how I fell in love with Mickey Rourke
Contemporary Austin Goings & Comings
Judith Sims retires, Deming sculpture Mystic Raven returns
Gary Numan’s Songs From a Broken World
New Wave pioneer takes on global warming
Five Arty Things to Do: Dec. 15-17
Counting it down, arting it up, struggling with the goddamn tinsel
No Headline
The first week of the year is historically a dead time for live music as touring acts take a break to recover from whatever New Year antics they got mixed up in. For years, Austin’s Free Week has packed local clubs and their stages with the finest and freshest crop of local acts – for…
No Headline
Here’s where your appetite is sated with the tastiest meals and drinks Austin has to offer – in any of these fine establishments, open for your patronage and serving up the goods even better and brighter as 2017 draws to its holiday-studded close. Seats fill up fast, so make your reservations as early as possible…
Your Weekend in Film
Choose your battle
Christmas in Connecticut
Christmas in Connecticut 1945, NR, 102 min. Directed by Peter Godfrey, Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Reginald Gardiner, S.Z. Sakall, Sydney Greenstreet, Una O’Connor. Sparkling screwball about a city slicker columnist (Stanwyck) pretending to be a trad wife in print; about to be exposed, she must summon a husband and child to snooker her publisher…
Just Getting Started
Grumpy old men on the golf course
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
A stellar entry into the beloved franchise
Darkest Hour
Gary Oldman disappears into the role of the beloved English statesman
Ferdinand
A beloved children’s book gets a mediocre screen adaptation
Holiday Viewing: Bad Santa
Foul-mouthed fun for the holidays
Rock & Roll Books
by Diana Finlay Hendricks
Soccer Watch
City staff reported to Council this week with their requested list of city-owned sites that might be suitable for a Major League Soccer stadium or training grounds. Staff identified eight properties, and it’s an interesting list (the full report should be out by the time you read this), but thus far, it doesn’t appear to…
Rock & Roll Books
by Michael Nesmith
Reposa out of Jail
DWI attorney released after 68 days
Rock & Roll Books
by Mary Lou Sullivan
Texas Wants to Bury Your Fetus, Pt. 2
It’s déjà vu all over again in the fight for reproductive rights
Tex-Mex Institution Reopens as an Austin Food Truck
Austin’s newest tamale mavens, Karam’s Tamale Company
Rock & Roll Books
by Watt M. Casey Jr.
A (Citizen Review) Panel of Experts?
New police contract places term limits on CRP
The Luv Doc: The Via Dolorosa
When is it acceptable to use the L word?
Rock & Roll Books
by Gary Floyd; edited by David Ensminger
Mobile Loaves & Money
An ATM has arrived at the Community First! Village
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Gift is the German word for poison. So if you see German tourists posing in front of a sign that says gift shop, they’re making a joke. The pumpkin evolved from a mash-up between two different species of squash about 20 million years ago that cross-pollinated and created what’s called an allotetraploid baby. Underwater hockey…
How Austin Handles Mental Health Emergencies
Police, EMS, and Integral Care work together to serve people in psychiatric crisis
Rock & Roll Books
by Sandy Carson
Lewis Conway Jr. Faces Long Odds for Council Candidacy
City memo suggests convicted felons aren’t eligible for office
Gift Guide Grab Bag
An array of extravagance to geek out on
Police Contract Talks Run Late
Council considers meet-and-confer agreement during special Wednesday meeting
Local Writers Hone Their Craft at the Street Lit Authors Club
Creating a space where those experiencing homelessness can tell their stories
Theatre Synesthesia’s The Brutes
Casey Wimpee’s original drama is about a Civil War-era family, but it’s deeply relevant to our own fractured time
So You Want to Be Austin’s City Manager
Finalists hit public forum before Council’s Tuesday decision
Austin’s Disappearing Mobile Home Communities
Redeveloping a manufactured housing park isn’t the only way its new owner can turn a profit
Austin Playhouse’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley
In its rush to be fun, the show fails to tap all the potential of this rom-com sequel to Pride and Prejudice
Everybody out of the Pool Plan!
Council punts Aquatic Master Plan to February
Council: Welcome to the Holiday Rush
If you think your to-do list is too long, consider City Council’s
“Rachel Stuckey: Good Days & Bad Days on the Internet” at Women & Their Work
The artist creates some genuinely geeky-cool stuff in this show that’s smart, funny, and fresh in its treatment of tech
Kalu & the Electric Joint Record Review
Time Undone (Spaceflight)
Day Trips: OS Ranch Museum, Post
Small-town art museum with a world-class collection
Seen / Soon: Dec. 15
A grand send-off to musical theatre at UT with The Drowsy Chaperone and feeding off the solstice darkness with Carla McElhaney and invoke
What’cha Watchin’?
Distribution Manager/Luv Doc Rabble-Rouser Dan Hardick is all Showtime, all the time
Gay Place
Queer holiday joy
Oops!
Last week’s story “The Long Road to Responsive Fire Coverage,” about gaps in the Austin Fire Department’s coverage map, contained an error in the map’s caption. It was AFD’s Planning and Research section that created the map, not the City Manager’s Office.
Quote of the Week: Doug Jones
The senator-elect from Alabama runs an autopsy on his campaign
Your Guide to Giving
How to donate to local nonprofits
Playback: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Live reviews of Big Bill, Protextor, Black Fret Ball, and Margaret Moser’s memorial concert
Headlines
A heavy agenda for today’s final 2017 regular City Council meeting (Dec. 14), with ABIA concession contracts, Convention Center planning, a nod at the Aquatic Master Plan, and a few vexing zoning cases. “Council: Welcome to the Holiday Rush,” Dec. 15. The two final candidates vying to be the next city manager – Spencer Cronk…
Brenham’s Brazos Valley Brewing Is a Destination, Not a Pit Stop
“It’s what’s on the inside that counts”
Rock & Roll Books
by Bill Bentley
2018 Primary Election Filing Time
And the candidates are …
Rock & Roll Books
by Radney Foster
Point Austin: Unfinished Business
Working Austin’s weirding ways to New Year’s resolutions
Chauffeur Reg Revamp Rerouted
City set to level playing field between limos, taxis, and TNCs
Van Boven Cleared of Mistreating Patients
Texas Medical Board reluctantly accepts ruling of admin judge
