Cover Story
House Arrest
APD brass decided they had a problem with Officer Jermaine Hopkins – so they assigned him to stay-at-home duty until they could figure out what to do with him. That was a really bad idea.
One in a Crowd: For Forgetful Gift Givers
Miss someone on your gift list? Play Santa and back local film.
Holiday Dinner for the Slacker
Putting the “ate” in “procrastinate”
It’s Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas
Jingle Bell Rocks! spins under the musical mistletoe
Food-o-File: Holiday Lagniappe
A little extra Austin food news
Black Messiah: D’Angelo & the Vanguard
Politics and prose covered in cosmic slop
Alamo Drafthouse Gets OK to Screen The Interview
Remember when Kim Jong-un threatened to nuke Austin? He’ll be mad now.
More Mocktails: Shrubs, Syrups, and Cordials
Winter flavors from Drink.Well
EEOC Rules in Favor of Hopkins
Ruling says APD’s health questionnaires violate federal law
StoryCorps Returning to Austin
Now accepting reservations for January interview slots
Some for Keeping
I’m gifting these baking books to myself
Ain’t It Cool With Harry Knowles Set to Air on KLRU
Head Geek pacts with local PBS affiliate
News Roundup: Water Flows Downhill
WTP 4 opens, ACLU sues Obama, and Brown awaits his fate
Texas, Gateway to Havana?
Before Perry opposed Cuban thaw, his ag commissioner called for it
DVDanger: Drawn to the Screen
Some animated selections from beyond the House of Mouse
Live Nation Acquires Controlling Stake in C3 Presents
October rumor becomes December reality
Food-o-File: Friday Lagniappe
A little extra Austin food news
Chronicle Recommends: Family Dysfunction Films
Because the holidays aren’t all about happiness and good cheer
I Hate Christmas
Strange Brew song swap ain’t for suckers
The AggreGAYtor: December 19
What happened today in gay? Here’s your QILTBAG recap of queer news.
The Luv Doc: A Piece of Work
Greetings Luv Doc! I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and I guess she likes your piece of work. I am also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works, too. You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further information about your work and…
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Batten down the hatches! The plagues are here!
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The concluding chapter of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien tales brings us full circle.
Foxcatcher
The performances by Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo anchor this drama, which nearly sinks from its weightiness.
Annie
This Annie is of our time, even if we’ve grown remote from spunky little girls.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
This well-worn premise still has some life in it.
PK
Bollywood comedy.
Epic Feats
This photographic record of Richard Linklater’s landmark film shows a lot going on before and behind the camera
Music DVDs
Looking for Johnny: The Legend of Johnny Thunders (Jungle/MVD Visual) “Johnny was the best songwriter that ever lived,” declares New York Dolls guitarist Syl Sylvain of his former bandmate two minutes into director Danny Garcia’s (The Rise & Fall of the Clash) superb documentary of the glam guitarist and punk icon. NYC cultural maven Lenny…
Hornography
Texas’ offseason hasn’t even officially started and it’s already off to a rocky start. This week, the Longhorns lost commitments from their top two recruits: Dallas RB Jordan Stevenson and H-Town offensive tackle Toby Weathersby. Texas is losing the recruiting battle to in-state rivals for the first time in recent history. One part of that…
AISD & ACC: Low Turnout rules
The AISD and ACC boards take shape
Epic Feats
The vibrant images of Texas taken by J. Griffis Smith will have you wanting to drive across the state yourself
Music DVDs
Bob Marley Uprising Live! (Eagle Vision/Rockpalast) In Dortmund, Germany, on June 13, 1980, Bob Marley had less than a year left to live. Uprising, culmination of the singer’s revolutionary ska/pop/reggae since the early Sixties, was three days old. His band of Wailers were midway through a European tour, and as seen and heard on the…
Soccer Watch
Last weekend’s United Soccer Leagues Annual General Meeting produced several news tidbits of interest to Austin soccer fans: Unconfirmed at this point, but seemingly reliable reports put the Austin Aztex in a USL PRO Western Conference as I reported here last week, playing home-and-home series against their 11 conference rivals, plus six more games against…
We Need to Talk
Food for Black Thought is changing Austin’s culinary conversation
Music DVDs
Queen Live at the Rainbow ’74 (Eagle Vision/Universal) “The nasty Queenies are back,” leers Freddie Mercury from the stage. The original knights in white satin turned up in a black cab to London’s Rainbow Theatre. In an era when most British rock bands were one gorgeous frontman and a bunch of welders, Queen offered four…
Run-Off Recap
The long march to 10-1 is over
Gay Place: Christmas Bacon
Christmas bacon is on the menu at the ND again
Music DVDs
Ufomammut 15 Years of Ufomammut (Supernatural Cat) “We wanted to play the heaviest stuff in the world – with elements of weird sounds from deep space,” explains guitarist Poia via subtitles in 15 Years of Ufomammut. That’s the Italian trio in a nutshell: cosmic doom. At the decade-and-a-half mark, the band sums up its career…
The Results
Early Voting Election Day Total Vote VOTER TURNOUT 9.8% 5.8% 15.6% AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL MAYOR Steve Adler 34,133 69.8% 17,992 62.4% 52,125 67.1% Mike Martinez 14,778 30.2% 10,832 37.6% 25,610 33.0% DISTRICT 1 Ora Houston 2,421 73.4% 1,813 75.5% 4,234 74.3% DeWayne Lofton 878 26.6% 590 24.6% 1,468 25.7% DISTRICT 3 Susana Almanza 1,086 43.0%…
Austin Film Critics Pick Boyhood
AFCA showers Linklater favorite with four awards
Music DVDs
Charles Lloyd Arrows Into Infinity (ECM) Toward the end of this beautifully rendered documentary, saxophonist Charles Lloyd, 76, describes his current New Quartet. “This is a magic formation. We get on this magic carpet and take off. It’s the wisdom of the ancients with modernity. It’s arrows into infinity.” That applies to most of his…
It’s Adler Over Martinez … Big
Adler takes the prize, Martinez concedes early
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
According to Friends of the Earth, more than 40% of all cruise ships use waste treatment systems that are more than three decades old. Mimesis is the deliberate representation of scenes, thoughts, or feelings by mime and action, thought to be specific to humans. The department store T.J. Maxx is called T.K. Maxx in Britain.…
Better Together
Rooster Teeth pops into Toy Joy
Music DVDs
Rush R40 (Anthem/Zoë/Rounder) Synth acts of the new millennium, behold Rush. By the time “Subdivisions” opens disc nine of the 10-DVD R40, commemorating the Canadian super trio’s four decades of progressive hammer and thought, the nearly 20-hour Time Machine (also available on Blu-ray) rockets you straight back to the New Wave Eighties on a tune…
It’s Houston Over Lofton
A quieter campaign yields a big victory
The Hightower Report: Why Won’t the CIA Even Say the Word “Torture”?
If the CIA can’t admit that they tortured people, then there’s no doubt they’ll do it again
D3: Sibling Rivalry Put to Rest
Renteria claims a decisive victory over Almanza
Hopkins and APD: A Timeline
Sept. 2009: Hopkins joins APD. May 8, 2012: Meets with APD psychologist Dr. Carol Logan for first time. June 14, 2012: Second meeting with Dr. Logan. April 8, 2013: Requests transfer from Patrol to Metro Tactics, later denied. May 18, 2013: Arrests Jason Roche, Melynda Trevino, and Vanessa Price after midnight on Whitsun Drive. May…
Landlords Sue to Block Section 8 Renters
Austin Apartment Association fights Council’s ban on source-of-income discrimination
Headlines
Steve Adler’s mayoral victory over Council Member Mike Martinez was no real surprise – “We were always the underdog,” said Martinez – but the 67-33% margin was overwhelming. Adler welcomed a mandate for change, and the promised support of his defeated opponent: “We need to seize this opportunity.” AISD Trustees voted unanimously Dec. 15 to…
The Good Eye: Of Russians and Ruffles
From Chekhov to Gunne Sax
Casar Thumps Pressley
Casar thumps Pressley in D4 run-off
All Over Creation: Solstice Savings Time
How A Christmas Carol and Interstellar instruct us in surviving the holidays
Big Ideas Behind Tiny Town
High school students use STEM skills to create a miniature wonderland at Zilker
Quote of the Week
“The sun is gonna shine again tomorrow.” – Council Member Mike Martinez, conceding the election to Steve Adler during his run-off watch party at the Rattle Inn.
Food-o-File
New Year’s resolutions
Urban Farmers Celebrate Renteria Win
Springdale Farm’s opponents not pleased, however
D7: Pool Cruises
Boyt concedes as Pool celebrates with current and future CMs
Dancing Circles
Dai Due’s sure footing
Music DVDs
R.E.M. REMTV (Rhino) R.E.M. and MTV were birthed at the same time. The Athens, Ga., quartet released its first single in July 1981, and the music channel debuted Aug. 1. At the time, the latter probably didn’t even know of the band’s existence, but as this 6-DVD set proves, they learned to love one another.…
Council: Out With the Auld Lang Syne
The historic, final meeting last Thursday (Dec. 11) of the seven-member, at-large City Council didn’t last two days – only until a little past 1am Friday morning – but a good deal of public policy water flowed under the bridge before Mayor Lee Leffingwell adjourned “for the night, for the year, and forever … sine…
D6: Zimmerman’s Zenith
Zimmerman beats out Flannigan in the oft-overlooked district
Music DVDs
The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark Between leaving the Byrds in 1966 and leaving the planet in 1991, Gene Clark created a relatively small but consistently brilliant body of brooding, poetic, baroque country-rock that should have established him as a solo star and major creative force. Instead, he mostly…
A Christmas Carol
Zach Theatre’s musical mashup of Christmases Past and Present puts bumps in Scrooge’s journey
Point Austin: Learning From the Election
Elections can be educational … or not
Crystal Creek Persuasion
Austin distiller reinvents moonshine
Music DVDs
WKRP in Cincinnati The Complete Series (Shout! Factory) “Baby, if you ever wondered/ Wondered whatever became of me/ I’m living on the air in Cincinnati/ Cincinnati WKRP.” Missing only from WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete Series, 86 half-hour episodes plus two extended plays on 13 DVDs, is a vignette on the scant bonus disc dedicated…
A Miracle on 34th Street Classic Radiocast
Penfold Theatre’s well-executed show is old-fashioned in both the entertainment it re-creates and its sense of community
D10: A Polite Victory
Gallo plans to cut spending and build consensus
Epic Feats
Coffeetable books that track monumental achievements on the silver screen and on the road
Playback: Crazed for Christmas
Grammy nominations, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions, and eight days of Christmas
Feast of My Heart
Jason Phelps’ show of solo performances about compassion are proof that one person can make a difference
Public Notice: From the West: the GOP
On the partisan and nonpartisan election
Epic Feats
This account of the cinematic epic’s epic creation is as full of drama and memorable characters as the film itself
Music DVDs
The Rolling Stones From the Vault: Hampton Coliseum (Live in 1981) (Eagle Rock Entertainment) The Rolling Stones From the Vault: L.A. Forum (Live in 1975) (Eagle Rock Entertainment) Recent gut punches of losing Rolling Stones sidemen Bobby Keys and Austin adopted son Ian McLagan serve as a poignant reminder that time waits for no one.…
Day Trips: St. Anthony’s Cathedral, Beaumont
St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica is a work of art both inside and out. The copper dome of the church towers over the southwest corner of downtown Beaumont like a red brick wedding cake. Construction on the church began in 1903 and was completed four years later. In 1966, the ministry was elevated to a cathedral,…
D8: Tax Hawk Wins by a Feather
Troxclair wins by just 57 votes
