Cover Story
Back to the Trenches
AMD tightens its hold on Lantana – and the enviro opposition digs in
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 1989, PG-13, 97 min. D: Jeremiah S. Chechik; with Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid. The third in the Vacation series is reliably amusing, with script by John Hughes and a fabulous cast.
Head
Bob Rafelson and co-conceptualist Jack Nicholson did for the Monkees what Richard Lester did for the Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, creating a wacked-out, aimless universe that constantly riffs on popular culture.
Britcoms: Channel 4 Forever
Britcoms: Channel 4 Forever Channel 4 in Great Britain remains a creative outlet for emerging comedy talent. Ali G, the comic invention of Sacha Baron Cohen, began as a commentator for Channel 4 before moving his act to HBO. The early work of gangsta newsman Ali G and other cutting-edge material are highlights in this…
Deep Blue
Deep Blue 2003, G, 83 min. Directed by Andy Byatt, Alastair Fothergill, Narrated by Pierce Brosnan. A feature-length re-assemblage of footage gathered for the directors’ BBC show The Blue Planet, Deep Blue is the Microcosmos and Winged Migration of the underwater world. A lush nature documentary, the film is filled with stunning images, swooping camerawork,…
Color and Brightness
Holy Terrorby Terry Eagleton Oxford University Press, 148 pp., $22 To my knowledge, perhaps the most cogent words yet spoken or written about terrorism actually belong to Osama bin Laden, who issued a statement just before last year’s election calamities in which, among other things, he asserted that if al Qaeda hated freedom, they would…
Top Shelf
A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped Americaby James E. McWilliams Columbia University Press, 386 pp., $29.95 Along with all things culinary, interest continues to grow regarding food within cultural and historic contexts, if the prevalence and popularity of such books are any indication. (Mark Kurlansky’s bestsellers on the history of cod…
Reissues
Dizzy Gillespie/Charlie ParkerTown Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 (Uptown) Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (Blue Note) John ColtraneOne Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note (Impulse) Eureka! Three newly discovered live performances document, in outstanding fidelity, important moments in modern jazz from some of the genre’s most crucial…
Still No Long-Term Housing Plan for Hurricane Evacuees
Only a small fraction of families qualify for mortgage assistance
Film News
Suzanne Quinn, the first and only director of Austin Studios, steps down; plus, news from Slamdance and the Independent Spirit Awards, Avril Lavigne, the Jim Henson Co., and Jerm Pollett
Arts String
Local gift suggestions from the Art Elf Prize Patrol
Color and Brightness
Should I Do What I Love? (Or Do What I Do – So I Can Do What I Love on the Side) by Katy McColl Sasquatch, 206 pp., $14.95 In Should I Do What I Love?, Katy McColl gathers interviews from a surprisingly broad array of off-the-beaten-path professions, putting jewelry designers, comedians, DJs, and “political…
Top Shelf
More Where That Came From The Soupie Cookbook 2005 (self-published, $10): Soup Peddler David Ansel and his army of generous customers (aka the soupies) have done it again. They’ve put together another charming handmade recipe collection to raise money for Mobile Loaves & Fishes and a similar organization in South Africa called Paballo Ya Batho.…
Reissues
George Harrison & FriendsThe Concert for Bangladesh DVD (Apple Corps/Rhino) George Harrison & FriendsThe Concert for Bangladesh CD (Apple Corps/Capitol) Obviously, some of the fruit under the Apple tree (Ringo, Imagine, Band on the Run) is sweeter than the rest (Back to the Egg, Gone Troppo). Spun off the previous year’s triumphant All Things Must…
Global Warming Treaty Update
While the international community and some U.S. cities embrace the Kyoto Protocol, the Bush administration resists, in typical assbackwards fashion
TV Eye
Austin is Comedy Central
Music String
Possessed by hellfire roots: Austin’s one-man bands
Color and Brightness
The Acme Novelty Libraryby Chris Ware Pantheon, 108 pp., $27.50 Chicago comic artist/graphic designer/master storyteller and all-around genius Chris Ware got his start drawing the beloved Quimby the Mouse strip for UT’s own humble Daily Texan and has gone on to delight readers with his many unique and exquisitely crafted comic strips, including perhaps the…
Food-o-File
‘Tis the season for birth and rebirth; plus, former Bitter End chef about to step into ‘Hell’s Kitchen’?
Reissues
Fern JonesThe Glory Road (Numero Group) The name is unfamiliar, but the sentiment is clear. Fern Jones was an Arkansas preacher’s wife who toured the South with her husband’s revival show. The closest Jones came to fame was “I Was There When It Happened,” a song she penned, covered by Johnny Cash, and bought by…
No Breakthrough at Cap Metro
Union disputes notion that a deal has almost been reached
Top Shelf
Batter Up Kids: Sensational Snacks: Healthy Eats from the Premier Children’s Cooking Schoolby Barbara Beery Gibbs Smith, 64 pp., $19.95 Following Batter Up Kids: Delicious Desserts, Austin author Barbara Beery has hit another homer with Batter Up Kids: Sensational Snacks. Beery, who has run a popular kids’ cooking school here since 1991, clearly knows what…
TCB
Super mega huge rock stars foreign (Coldplay) and homegrown (Spoon) pay a visit as the Grammys surprise Destiny’s Child, Los Lonely Boys, and Norah Jones with nominations. Is this what the big time feels like?
Page Two: For What It’s Worth
Thoughts on conflict of interest and the staying power of Neil Young
Holiday Wish Lists 2005
Austin, every year we hear about how helpful these lists are and how you come to the rescue of so many of our community groups. Here’s a big, fat smooch. SMOOCH! Well, we won’t stop asking until they stop needing, and sadly, they won’t stop needing until our societal priorities get a nice little kick…
Reissues
George Jones My Very Special Guests: Legacy Edition (Epic/Legacy) Through the years, George Jones has been a most prolific duet partner, from his early work with Melba Montgomery to his hits with Tammy Wynette and latter-day special appearances with the likes of Patty Loveless and Mark Chesnutt. My Very Special Guests, initially released in 1979,…
The Race Is on for House District 48
Five-way contest almost guarantees a run-off
2005 Politics Holiday Gift Guide
We’ve heard some of these ideas are even real
After a Fashion
Scrambling to take care of that Secret Santa on your list? Your Style Avatar has the perfect solution!
Reissues
Bruce SpringsteenBorn to Run 30th Anniversary Edition (Columbia) With Martin Scorcese’s No Direction Home setting a new standard for music documentaries, Bruce Springsteen is still following in Bob Dylan’s footsteps 30 years after Jersey’s Boss finally shook off the new-Zimmy comparisons with a Phil Spector-inspired wall of sound and a revamped songwriting approach more boardwalk…
Hey, That’s Our Nuke, Too
Jackie Goodman questions the new ownership of the South Texas Nuclear Project
King Kong
Jackson’s remake is a corker of an action/monster movie: part RKO serial; part square-jawed, manly romp; and part classic journey into the unknown that recalls and references Heart of Darkness.
Arts String
Maybe your arts fan is but a wee lad or lass just learning the lay of the musical landscape, as it were. You’ll find no better guides than Austin’s own Biscuit Brothers, stars of the award-winning PBS series broadcast Saturdays on KLRU, Channel 18. On Dusty and Buford’s debut CD, Meet the Biscuits ($14.95), the…
To Your Health
Is there a way I can reduce bile production?
Reissues
Patti SmithHorses/Horses (Columbia/Legacy) It took almost five years from the death of Janis Joplin for another female music superstar to be born. Patti Smith wasn’t a supernova like Joplin, not at first, but her 1975 deconstruction of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” stands as one of the most brilliant acts of revolution in rock & roll. A…
Reissues
T. RexThe T. Rex Wax Co. Singles A’s and B’s 1972-77 (Rhino) Marc Bolan & T. Rex Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (Rhino) T. Rex The Slider (Rhino) T. Rex Dandy in the Underworld (Rhino) That’s four, count ’em, four deluxe, 2-CD reissues from Marc Bolan’s days of dandy foppishness and cosmic…
Point Austin: Memo to Cap Metro
Stop Union-busting, or Take a Hike
The Family Stone
This likable romantic comedy runs the gamut of emotions – hitting tenderness, rage, remorse, and everything in between – but there are too many characters with too little chemistry to be a real keeper.
First Night Austin
First Night Austin gets ready to ring out the old year in a big way, with a cultural extravaganza on a scale the city has never before seen
The Common Law
Will deferred adjudication show up on my criminal record?
Reissues
EurythmicsIn the Garden (RCA/Legacy) EurythmicsSweet Dream (Are Made of This) (RCA/Legacy) EurythmicsTouch (RCA/Legacy) EurythmicsBe Yourself Tonight (RCA/Legacy) EurythmicsRevenge (RCA/Legacy) EurythmicsSavage (RCA/Legacy) EurythmicsWe Too Are One (RCA/Legacy) EurythmicsPeace (RCA/Legacy) As a singles act, London’s Eurythmics not only wrote all their own hits, Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox’s co-authorship stamps nearly every track across the New Wave…
Point Austin: Beside the Point
The streets are mean, and so is the City Council
Cape of Good Hope
There’s a sweet bent to this simple South African film about a multicultural group of employees at a Cape Town animal shelter who find both goodness and hope in their troubled lives.
Holiday Productions
Five performing arts groups that revive holiday-themed shows every December share the traditions they’ve developed within these seasonal traditions
Day Trips
Shopping and eating in the Alamo City always seems like a good reason for a day trip to me
Reissues
Sonic YouthGoo Deluxe Edition (Geffen) Sonic Youth’s major label debut was originally going to be titled Blowjob, because in 1991, that was still considered “edgy.” They chose Goo instead and were called sellouts for going in a more “pop” direction. Strangely enough, this 2-CD remastered edition sounds better 15 years later than half the crap…
AMD’s Plans Call for …
A new $230 million office campus at Southwest Parkway and West William Cannon Drive in Southwest Austin, known as the Lantana tract. The property is just outside the recharge zone (and within the contributing zone) of the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer, and within the city’s Drinking Water Protection Zone. Construction on the first three of…
The Hightower Report
Coming up with a timetable for leaving Iraq isn’t unpatriotic or cowardly; and Bush’s EPA proposes a new rule for testing toxic pesticides on humans, giving pesticide corporations clear-cut exceptions to the supposed federal ban on human testing
Brokeback Mountain
The beautifully wrought film is a tragic love story (not a “gay cowboy movie”) that’s defined by its staggering heartbreak.
Jennifer Bell
Jennifer Bell, who is neither Italian nor Catholic, is one of four artists invited to show her paintings in a memorial exhibit for Pope John Paul II in southeastern Italy
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Queen Elizabeth keeps her Cheerios fresh and clean
Reissues
45 GraveOnly the Good Die Young (Restless) Birthed from the nascent no-futurism of L.A. punk rock circa 1980, 45 Grave were largely unheralded characters in the emergence of goth as a cultural touchstone. Perhaps that’s because they never took themselves too seriously. Unlike scene contemporaries Christian Death, 45 Grave’s liberal embrace of surf rock, party-down…
Cons and Pros
Coalition members opposed to AMD locating at Lantana:Austin Neighborhoods Council, Clean Water Action, Liveable City, Austin Sierra Club, Save Barton Creek Association, Save Our Springs Alliance, Texas Public Interest Research Group, Travis County Green Party, Barton Hills Neighborhood Association, BartonView NA, Zilker NAProponents of AMD locating at Lantana:Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods – an umbrella…
Merian C. Cooper’s Big Adventure
Plus, Wajda’s war films, ‘The L Word,’ Harold Lloyd, and a ‘Jurassic’ fetish
Arts Review
The State Theater Company brings its artistry to bear on that most conventional show of the season, ‘A Christmas Carol,’ and delivers a perfectly packaged production
Soccer Watch
Maryland wins the NCAA Men’s championship, the Americans get a tough draw in the 2006 World Cup, and more
Reissues
Killing Joke(Virgin) Killing JokeWhat’s THIS for …? (Virgin) Killing JokeRevelations (Virgin) Killing JokeHa! (Virgin) What a conspicuous time for Killing Joke to reappear on the shelves. Some selections from the Londoners’ first two LPs, released 1980 and ’81: “Bloodsport,” “Primitive,” “Butcher,” and their hit – if you can call it that – “Wardance.” Not exactly…
Who’s Your Grandpa?
Critics say older case gives ammo against AMD, but city staff say they are apples and oranges
Gift guide
King Kong: Collector’s EditionTurner Home Entertainment, $39.98 Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life Milestone, $29.95 Chang: A Drama of the WildernessMilestone, $29.95 Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooperby Mark Cotta Vaz Villard, 496 pp., $26.95 On Wednesday, the world shook again with the weight of an angry, lovelorn 2000-pound great ape by the…
Arts Review
From the prologue through the rousing finale, ProArts Collective’s new production of ‘Black Nativity’ saturates the Christmas story in rich emotion
Oops!
In last week’s box set review of the Band, A Musical Journey (Music, Dec. 9), Levon Helm was misidentified as hailing (howling?) from Alabama. The drummer is from Arkansas. The Chronicle regrets the error.
Reissues
Van der Graaf GeneratorThe Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other (Virgin/EMI) Van der Graaf Generator H to He Who Am the Only One (Virgin/EMI) Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts (Virgin/EMI) Van der Graaf Generator is one of those Seventies bands: They toured with Genesis, and Johnny Rotten loved them. The UK…
Good Corporate Guys
Here’s a list of major employers that either moved out of the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer region or decided not to move there, with a little prodding from the community and an attractive handout from the city’s Smart Growth program. For other major companies such as Samsung and Applied Materials, located east of I-35, the…
Gift guide
Andrzej Wajda: Three War FilmsCriterion, $79.95 It’s a trilogy that could never have conformed to the fashionably efficient shooting schedules of The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean, but to recognize that it came close – A Generation, Kanal, and Ashes and Diamonds were made and released during a five-year span (1954-1958)…
Arts Review
Ballet Austin’s 43rd production is what you might call a big-ticket ballet, a sensational show that’s all about dreams coming true
Top Shelf
Austin’s offerings for a little kitchen reading
Reissues
Run-DMC (Profile) Run-DMC King of Rock (Profile) Run-DMC Raising Hell (Profile) Run-DMC Tougher Than Leather (Profile) Over time it becomes increasingly sacrilegious to view Run-DMC as anything less than the primary architects of rap music as we know it today. Indeed, the trio from Hollis, Queens, thrust hip-hop into areas of credibility, making arena performances…
The Canoe Conundrum
Longtime proprietors of Town Lake’s canoe rental franchise get sent up the river without a paddle
Gift guide
The L Word: Season Two Showtime Entertainment, $69.99 Giving cred where it’s due, let’s just break this down in terms of guest appearances: Sandra Bernhard, Arianna Huffington, Camryn Manheim, Ossie Davis, Peaches, Melissa Rivers, Sharon Isbin, Charles S. Dutton, Shawn Colvin, Betty’s Alyson Palmer and Amy Ziff, Holland Taylor, and Gloria Steinem, to name a…
Arts Review
Ars Ipsa’s exhibition Temporary Dividers temporarily divides its contents into ‘art,’ but the ideas of these contents, viruslike, are likely to permanently accompany your life
Top Shelf
Fired Up!: More Adventures and Recipes From Hudson’s On the Bendby Jeff Blank with Sara Courington Laurentius Press, 207 pp., $35 When it comes right down to it, the most important thing about any restaurant cookbook is: Does it tell you how to make their food? Really tell you? So that you can duplicate the…
Reissues
Johnny Guitar WatsonAin’t That a Bitch (Shout! Factory) Johnny Guitar WatsonA Real Mother for Ya (Shout! Factory) Johnny Guitar WatsonFunk Beyond the Call of Duty (Shout! Factory) Johnny Guitar WatsonThe Funk Anthology (Shout! Factory) Of the plethora of Texas blues guitar slingers who migrated to L.A. during the Fifties, Johnny Guitar Watson was the slickest…
Christian Peacemakers
Texan activists worry about their abducted colleagues in Iraq
Gift guide
THE HAROLD LLOYD COMEDY COLLECTIONNew Line Entertainment, $89.98 The image is as iconic as Eisenstein’s pram caroming down the Odessa Steps, or Cary Grant’s sprint from that faceless, unstoppable crop duster, or Welles’ Rosebud charring in the great fire of oblivion. Quiet desperation was and is at the heart of the American cinematic psyche, but…
Color and Brightness
There is still time to buy these books for people
Top Shelf
The Soup Peddler’s Slow & Difficult Soups: Recipes and Reveriesby David Ansel Ten Speed Press, 181 pp., $16.95 (paper) By now, many people in Austin are familiar with, or at least have heard of, the Soup Peddler, aka David Ansel. He is the guy who got tired of boring corporate jobs and decided to get…
Reissues
Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970, Volume 2 (Lost Highway) The first volume of Night Train to Nashville won a Grammy for best historical recording of 2004. Volume 2 is almost as gratifying, a testament to Nashville’s post-World War II R&B scene, which, not surprisingly, has been overshadowed by everything associated…
Bible Monument Case Thumps Its Way Through Courts
Constitutionality of Harris County display heard in Austin court
Gift guide
Jurassic Park Adventure PackUniversal, $26.98 First, let it be known that the new Jurassic Park “Adventure Pack” offers nothing new aside from a $10.50 coupon to see Peter Jackson’s King Kong and a really nice dinosaur painting inside its box. No new extras or bonus discs packed with featurettes. No significant remastering or remixing. Let’s…
Color and Brightness
High Pink: Tex-Mex Fairy Talesby Franco Mondini-Ruiz D.A.P. Inc., 292 pp., $20 Call it rascuache glam, joto chic, or repurposed trash. The one thing you can’t say about Franco Mondini-Ruiz’s work in High Pink is that it’s not worth a second glance. Porcelain figurines (the kind you might find in your grandma’s curio cabinet) are…
Top Shelf
The Driskill Hotel: Stories of Austin’s Legendary Hotel – A Cookbook for Special Occasionsby David J. Bull and Turk Pipkin Driskill Hotel, 131 pp., $39.95 In its first foray into the world of book publishing, the Driskill Hotel has created a cookbook as opulent, classy, and pure D Texas as the hotel itself. This is…
Reissues
King Cole TrioTranscriptions (Blue Note) There was something truly delightful about the Nat King Cole Trio, and an integral part of their soulful, sophisticated sound came from Austin-born guitarist Oscar Moore. The combination of his rhythmic dexterity, giving the group its understated yet propulsive swing, and his impeccable leads, grounded in a blues-rich Lone Star…
Naked City
Headlines and happenings from Austin and beyond
In Space
Online commerce puts customers on hold; here’s how to get out of the loop
Color and Brightness
Memories of My Melancholy Whoresby Gabriel García Márquez Knopf, 115 pp., $20 Love in the Time of Cholera’s Florentino Ariza was willing, if not content, to wait longer than 50 years for the requital of his love. The unnamed narrator of Gabriel García Márquez’s newest work doesn’t have that time to give. At 90 years…
Top Shelf
Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchenby Julie Powell Little, Brown, 309 pp., $23.95 Austin native Julie Powell might just be the first culinary star to emerge from the blogosphere. Powell was a young married woman living in New York City, unsatisfied in her job and frustrated with her lack of…
Reissues
Jimmy CliffBetter Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971 (Hip-O Select) In stark contrast to Ivan Martin, the singer turned ganja-trade outlaw he brought to such vivid screen life in 1972’s The Harder They Come, Jimmy Cliff gained the world honestly. Hear it in the Jamaican’s preternatural voice all these lifetimes later: still as pure…
Shoal Creek Frankencurbs Could Multiply, Mutate
Despite being slated for removal by City Council in September, the city may actually build them some new friends
In Print
It might look perfect for the Defamer.com-addicted ghoul on your list, but it’s really just a coffeetable-safe Hollywood Babylon
Luv Doc Recommends: KOOP Radio 11th Birthday Party
How do Hindus celebrate Christmas? Does Ganesh slap on a four-sleeved red coat with white fur trim and sleigh around bringing presents to all the little Hindu boys and … uh … boys? If so, surely he could kick Santa’s ass in a stocking-stuffing contest. Would Santa lose his job to Indian outsourcing? Would letters…
