In Person
In the ambulance a child is turning blue around the edges. The sweep of time has lifted up her life and we are a blur of hands trying to refasten her to it. — “Liza,” from We Live in Bodies I am stupid with awe of Ellen Dor� Watson. Reading her work does that to…
Road Shows
DECEMBER FRI 19 Rev. Horton Heat, Liberty Lunch FRI 19 Sicola Martin, La Zona Rosa FRI 19 Gold, Stuntdriver, Phoenix Thunderstone, Atomic Cafe SAT 20 Middlefinger, Emo’s SAT 20 Long John Hunter, Victory Grill SAT 20 Michael Martin Murphey, Saxon Pub SUN 21 Tito & Tarantula, Continental Club SAT 27 Hot Club of Cowtown, Continental…
Charrrrrrrrrrge It!
Friends, I was a bright-eyed college freshman when the dark lord Debt first came a-callin’. Our resident assistant had a job foisting credit card applications upon our campus apartment community, idyllically nestled in the Northern California redwoods. She was the token Goth — white makeup, black Sisters of Mercy T-shirt, the whole bit — and…
PostScripts
Local bookstores on the whole stop scheduling author readings and booksignings for December because they need “all hands on deck” to handle the Christmas crowds, and because, as Diane Everman of Barnes & Noble told me earlier this month, it’s difficult to schedule authors in December when most people are busy with their Christmas schedules.…
Noch� de la Tar�ntula
Robert Rodriguez and Tito Larriva singing about “Angry Cockroaches” at Stubb’s last Sunday, December 14. photograph byJohnny Medina Fast. We were going so fast. Racing through the jungle in my uncle’s gold Datsun like Spanish soldiers running for our lives. Out on the carretera that runs through Muna, a little Mayan village not far from…
Rip ’em to Shreds
Do it… Just do it. Feeling the sticky breath of the credit monster on back of your debt-weary neck? Just do what others have done to slay the over-budget beast: Cut up your credit cards. Easier said than done, huh? Well, maybe it’s time to call the professionals. Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS) of Austin,…
So… You Want To… Volunteer???!!!
Are you interested in giving your time? Your self? To help someone who is living with HIV/AIDS? Then, have I got a deal for you!!!!! Many people come to us with as wide a variety of needs as you could possibly imagine. The need varies dramatically from one individual to the next. Our variety of…
Psychographical Communities
illustration by Jason Stout Four AM on a Friday night/Saturday morning and I’m still up, restless and more than a bit bored as the evening’s plans fell through, leaving me stranded at home, car in the shop, chewing nails. Skittering over the Internet, I fasten on to the Hyperreal Streaming Page (http://www.hyperreal.org/~cyberia/streaming.html), something local InterneTV…
Mouse Hunt
Mouse Hunt 1997, PG, 98 min. D: Gore Verbinski; with Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, Christopher Walken, Maury Chaykin. It’s interesting that this dark and energetic autobahn of a comedy from DreamWorks SKG (the K is for Jeffrey “I Used to Run Disney” Katzenberg) has at its center an evil mouse — evil mice never having…
Benefits
FRI 19 Evening of Live Music w/Mohammad Firoozi, Rodney Garza, & more to benefit Bikes Not Bombs, at Ruta Maya, 218 W. Fourth, 8pm-midnight. 472-9638. SAT 20 Evening of Poetry w/Thom the World Poet, Jeff Knight & John Hawk to benefit poet Pasha’s medical expenses, at Quackenbush’s, 2010 Guadalupe, 3pm. 472-4477. SUN 21 Season of…
Election Stampede
Sam Biscoe Valeri Bristol Ron Davis Margaret G�mez photograph by Jana Birchum Darwin McKee photograph by Jana Birchum Richard Moya photograph by Jana Birchum Karen Sonleitner photograph by Jana Birchum County Judge Bill Aleshire is retiring to attend law school. photograph by Jana Birchum The Travis County Commissioners Court, long a bastion of Democratic power,…
Scream 2
Scream 2 1997, R, 120 min. Directed by Wes Craven, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Lewis Arquette, Liev Schreiber, Jada Pinkett, Jerry O’Connell, Elise Neal, Laurie Metcalf, Jamie Kennedy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell. Has it only been one year since director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson reintroduced…
Coach’s Corner
Last week I got two snitty messages. One reader observed, regarding my comments on Latrell Sprewell, that I was “regurgitating news I read that morning in the Dallas Morning News, passing it off as some sort of brilliant insight of my own.” Another accused me of “outright plagiarism.” To be honest, I’m surprised this was…
The Big Turnover
Below are some intended or prospective candidates for Travis Co. Commissioners Court who may be on the ballot in the March primaries. Filing deadline is Jan. 2. County Judge Bill Aleshire is retiring to attend law school. D: Sam Biscoe, Valarie Bristol R: Hank Gonzalez Precinct 1 Sam Biscoe has resigned to run for County…
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997, PG-13, 119 min. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Pierce Brosnan, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Pryce, Teri Hatcher, Judi Dench, Desmond Llewelyn. Spottiswoode, current altar boy for the revered 007 movie franchise, has boldly gambled on saving the redundancy-mired series by reinventing one of its most sacred…
Day Trips
photograph by Gerald E. McLeod At the Great Race Automotive Hall of Fame in Granbury the show cars are more than museum pieces. Each car has been restored to running order and has participated in the Great American Race. The 11 cars and one motorcycle in the exhibit chronicle the early years of the great…
Dotting i’s, Circling C’s
illustration by Doug Potter Every time I hear the words “Circle C,” I cringe. Guaranteed, what follows will be a full regaling on the topic, complete with jargonized references to laws and lawsuits, legislation and legislators, land deals and watersheds — to say nothing of fat cat developers — each of which act as secret…
Amistad
Amistad 1997, R, 155 min. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Morgan Freeman, Pete Postlethwaite, Nigel Hawthorne, Stellan Skarsgard. Amistad is a disappointment if the standard for judging Steven Spielberg’s new film is the state of mute, stumbling devastation that Schindler’s List inspired in…
Page Two
Last issue, in my piece on Linda Curtis, I wrote, “Thus, even with this campaign proposition, it would be legal for Curtis’ group to get its $40,000.” This is completely wrong. I apologize to the readers for this statement. The first part is just plain wrong. Priorities First was a PAC, and PACS can not…
A Big Tent
Rep. Lloyd Doggett and then-Mayor Bruce Todd join the Dell family and others on the stage at the Dell Jewish Community Campus groundbreaking. photograph by Minh “Groundbreaking” generally has two meanings: it’s a specifier for a new or unique situation, and it’s a symbolic shoveling of soil marking the beginning of an architectural project. A…
For Richer Or Poorer
For Richer Or Poorer 1997, PG-13, 120 min. Directed by Bryan Spicer, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tim Allen, Kirstie Alley, Jay O. Sanders, Michael Lerner, Wayne Knight, Larry Miller, Marla Maples. For Richer or Poorer juxtaposes the simple, pure life of the Amish with the glittering, indulgent excesses of wealthy Manhattanites. Watching…
Public Notice
Holiday Wish List, Part Two If you’re just joining us from last week (“1997 Holiday Wish Lists, Part One”), you might recall that we were raging against the machine, railing against The Man, and advocating violent overthrow of apathy and self-righteous finger-pointing. So there. But if you weren’t with us, what you missed was a…
Marvin’s Metamorphosis
photograph by Jana Birchum If you’re actually interested in defending free enterprise, a big corporation is not necessarily the best place to do it.” Text from The Nation? No, it’s from a local source. Perhaps The Texas Observer, then? Wrong again. The speaker is Marvin Olasky, University of Texas professor of journalism and the Austin…
Titanic
James Cameron’s epic and romantic fantasy of the ocean tragedy
Mister Smarty Pants Knows
From the 12th century until 1752, the New Year was celebrated on March 25, also known as Lady Day. Some of Santa Claus’ traditions, such as the sleigh, flying reindeer, and roof- top visits, were the result of a N.Y.C. physician, Dr. Clement Clarke Moore, who wrote “A Visit From St. Nick” for his daughter.…
Megachurch Miracle
And the Lord added to the church daily. — Acts 2:47 Pastor Harol O’Chester stirs a 2,500-plus crowd at Great Hills Baptist Church. photograph by Jana Birchum Shirley Ferk says that five years ago she was just a “housewife in the pasture stretching goat wire” in a small East Texas town, as unmoved by the…
Articulations
Well, the fat lady has finally sung in the Austin Symphony Orchestra`s long, long search for a new conductor. (I know that that metaphor really only ought to be used for an opera company, but hey, after two seasons of the ASO trying out conductors to succeed departing maestro Sung Kwak, I’ll take any phrase…
A Life of Destinations
illustration by Jason Stout For years I thought he was taller than I. He’s not, actually. Not so much. Maybe some. But he’s more or less my height. Still, for years I thought he was about a head taller. I saw him as taller. It wasn’t just that he has a barrel chest, a wide…
Austin’s 11 Largest Churches*
These numbers are a count of church “membership,” as reported by the Austin Baptist Association, Catholic Diocese, and Christian Faith Center. But there is nothing hard and fast about counting church congregations, and all churches draw a distinction between membership and the number of people who actually show up on Sunday mornings. *St. Louis Catholic…
Exhibitionism
FLAME FAILURE, EPISODE 8: MESSING WITH YOUR MEAT MINDS The Public Domain, through December 21 Running Time: 50 min The quest for the book has taken yet another odd turn. Which book? Ah, obviously you haven’t been paying attention to this particular journey called Flame Failure. For the past eight months, the characters in this…
Food-O-File
My most detailed food fantasy revolves around a cozy rural restaurant in the Texas wine country outside Fredericksburg. The old stone building is surrounded by a beautifully landscaped outdoor seating area and extensive organic gardens. This time of year, there would be a roaring fire in the big stone fireplace and the dining rooms would…
Naked City
Are these taxing times for Dell Computer Corp.? The PC giant is on a mission to find out what kind of reputation it has in the community. Over the past few weeks, pollsters representing Dell have contacted several prominent local leaders to ask such questions as: How is Dell perceived in the community? Does Dell…
Home Improvement
photograph by John Anderson This holiday, Santa won’t be leaving any little bundles under Live Oak Theatre’s tree. Oh, it isn’t because this longtime local stage company hasn’t been good this year; on the contrary, Live Oak has turned out some memorable drama in 1997. It’s that the theatre has already had its Christmas –…
It’s a Wrap!
Bohemian WrapCity photograph by John Anderson Bohemian WrapCity 511 East 6th St., 457-9727 Mon-Wed, 11:30am-10pm; Thu-Sat, 11:30am-3:30am Bohemian WrapCity may not be the only restaurant taking advantage of both the national frenzy for “wraps” and Austin’s embrace of punny names for the restaurants that specialize in them, but it is the only one with Russian…
Nickelodeon for Your Thoughts
The Mary Tyler Moore Show Of the many things to be grateful for this season, oh reader, thank your lucky stars I am sparing you the heartwarming story of how an Eight Is Enough Christmas episode brought my estranged family together. Suffice it to say that it was the one after Mom Bradford (Diana Hyland)…
Deep in the Heart
Granted, a search engine is going to pull up everything from Joe Blow’s homemade crystal radio transmissions of his kid sister’s Spice Girls singles to bizarre, deep-within-the-Everglades fundamentalist Christian devivals and white-trash hootenannies. Weeding through the excess crud is mostly a matter of personal taste and perseverance, but the following Internet radio relays are time-tested…
Dancing About Architecture
Gosh, it seems like only yesterday that Twang Twang Shock-a Boom was on everyone’s shit-list as the local trio of young upstarts guaranteed overnight success at the expense of everyone else on the ol’ music scene. Well, things slowed down a whit after that, but head Twanger Dah-Veed Garza (who’s gone back to spelling his…
Boughs of Garbage
illustration by Roy Tompkins For my first three years in Austin, I slept on a mattress found by the side of the road. When company came, I would turn it upside down to hide the tire marks. It was not a triumph of public health, but I loved that mattress just the same. When I…
Art That Speaks for Itself
Honored Parence. I now embrace this oppertunity of writing… to let you know where I am and where I am going. I am well, thank God, and in high Spirits. I am now on an expidition to the westward, with Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clark, who are appointed by the President of the united States…
A Word From Our Sponsor
photograph by Kenny Braun In a culture where the candidate with the most entertainment value is usually the winner, having a basic understanding of how ideas and messages are marketed is rapidly evolving from just another thing you need to know to get a business degree into a genuine survival mechanism. And whether you think…
Scanlines
(1977) with John Amplas, Lincoln Maazel, Christine Forrest Director George Romero has had his career ups and downs but will always be remembered for Night of the Living Dead. A woman boards a sleeper car on a train, and finds a young man with a hypodermic in her compartment. He jabs her with the needle,…
A Hundred’s Not Enough
The clich� comes so easily… A picture is worth a thousand words. The truth is, it is often difficult to find the words that attract us to images. The eyes in a portrait are an unspoken invitation… a barren landscape is rich in texture… an ordinary object takes on a nobility within the frame of…
Live Shots
East Babylon Symphony, Bikes Not Bombs Benefit, Flamingo Cantina, December 14. photograph by John Carrico PAUL NEWMAN Electric Lounge, December 6 The only downside about an evening of Trance Syndicate bands is that, more often than not, there’s a lot of between time; they take the “leave ’em wanting more” philosophy to an extreme. From…
Shortcuts
Film, Not Fries: Thus went the chant of students and other concerned filmgoers at the Texas Union Massacre rally last Thursday. A hardy group of 75 or so cineastes braved the bitter cold and the deaf ears of the University and Union management in order to voice their feelings of anger and frustration regarding the…
The Home Channel
Houses have Christmas wishes. I know because I’ve absorbed so much drywall compound, sawdust, paint, and cement over the years, I’ve become part house myself. So, in honor of the spirit of giving, I will enter into a hypnotic state — a dangerous condition for anyone with as many secrets as I have to hide…
Recommended
Friday: Asleep at the Wheel, Don Walser, La Zona Rosa; Austin Kwanza Celebration, State Theatre; Rev. Horton Heat, Liberty Lunch Saturday: Joe King Carrasco, Steamboat; Michael Martin Murphey, Saxon Pub Sunday: Seed, The Cracklin Nannies, Dismukes, Claymores, Hole in the Wall Monday: Ted Roddy’s Tearjoint Troubadors, Ego’s Tuesday: Kim Miller & Laurie Freelove, Shaggy’s
Great Gifts for the Digerati
The Logitech TrackMan Marble is among the front runners for trackballs. Ultima Online from Origin Systems is a visually compelling game that pits one player against other live players. So you’ve got a computer geek on your gift list but you don’t know your RAM from a hole in the ground. Just because that automatic…
