Cover Story
Two Towers, Six Years, and 16 Millimeters
The remarkable journey – and uncertain toll – of Steve Bilich’s ‘Native New Yorker’
Beastial Refreshment
Orangina. Shake it. Whoa.
Song of America
I bought Quanah Parker at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar. Probably shouldn’t say how many greenbacks changed hands, but it was both more and less than you’d think. Pretty good deal for a Comanche bigwig: “Born to Cynthia Parker, an abducted settler white woman, and Chief Noconas, the young warrior led the Kwahadi Comanche in treacherous…
‘Growing Pains’ ‘Star’ Hates the Hoops
Bill Kirchenbauer is a 54-year-old comedian best known for his role as coach Graham Lubbock on the megapopular Eighties sitcom Growing Pains. He is also a resident of the affluent Austin suburb the Village of the Hills and has blown his whistle on those pesky basketball hoops mucking up his streets; he wants the neighborhood…
Evangeline
Evangeline 1929, NR, 87 min. Directed by Edwin Carewe, Starring Dolores del Rio, Roland Drew, Alec B. Francis, Donald Reed. The silent film is based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1847 poem about the loss of love and home. It’s directed by the man who invited del Rio to Hollywood. See p, XX of this week’s…
Coming Out of the Closet Over the Holidays Makes More Room for Presents, Jodie
A second Coming Out Day of sorts, on Christmas so many closet doors are flung wide open.
European Champions League Matchups and More
World football went into its holiday break this week, as just about everyone outside Britain takes a midwinter break of two to six weeks; there were key results in several Euro leagues on the last full weekend of 2007. (The Brits, of course, just keep playing – a heavy schedule, in fact, through the holiday…
IN UR NOSE, BLOCKING UR AIR PASSAGE
Because nature, not necessarily intelligently, designs a few things, too. Things that make themselves a bit more harshly manifest at this low-temperature, low-humidity time of year. Things that some have called snot flaps. Sound familiar? Well, we did write a small feature about them, about this particular bio-design, some years ago (when we had just…
Christmas Tidings at Charlies!
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright…
There Will Be Blood Sneak Preview
There Will Be Blood Sneak Preview 2007, R, 158 min. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano. Only 14 theatres nationwide have been selected for this one-night-only midnight screening on Saturday. The new Alamo, of course, is proud to host this special screening before the movie’s Austin premiere on Jan. 18.
FRUIT Flies?!? Gay!?! C’MON!
Always knew thar wuz sumthin’ fruity ’bout them flies.
Stuck Homo Alone for The Holiday?
Come eat some Christmas dinner with “family”!
Gene Kelly: The Democratic Party’s Version of Herpes
No, not THAT ONE!
Tax Assessor Race Getting Bloody
Burnt Orange Report debate is getting fierce
It’s Not What Karl Knows
Right-wing publishers kick Turd Blossom $1.5 million for his autobiography.
Hey Last-Minute Shoppers/Shippers!
Hey, Last Minute Santa! You can still get your package in the mail by 3pm today! On, Dasher!
RG4N Loses In Court
But judge only addresses one aspect of anti-Wal-Mart group’s claims
Libertarians Target … Ron Paul. Wuh?
Due-paying Libertarian to challenge functional libertarian next November
(T.J.) Ford Tough
So your 2003 College Player of the Year is banged up; on December 10 the Toronto Raptors’ T.J. Ford played with a busted thumb that led to a 1-9 effort from the floor against a Sacramento Kings squad that is nothing to write home to mom about. Which is good because if the Kings did…
Blasphamers!
Attic Ted is going to hell in a hell-shaped handbasket.
NOPD, You Got Some ‘Splainin to Do
Video footage from New Orleans catches city employee threatening press with a taser.
Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum
Watching Angus Young go nuclear on the first disc of the new Plug Me In ranks up there with anything on the gold standard of music DVDs, Led Zeppelin. Ace Frehley resurrecting Their Satanic Majesties Request, “2,000 Man,” on this summer’s Kissology Vol. 2, yet another freshly minted DVDnd (Vol. 3’s imminent). The Beatles’ Help!,…
Jingle Bell Rock and Blues
Two legendary Austin bands reunite for the holidaze.
Christmas With the Q
Revisiting a Christmas jam.
Readings
Autonauts of the Cosmoroute is the record of an epic adventure on the Autoroute de Sud, cobbled together from fragments composed on the road
Paramount Theatre: A million in its stocking
It’s a green Christmas for the Paramount Theatre, with a $1 million grant in its stocking
Music DVDs
Paul McCartney The McCartney Years (Rhino) Nearing his 40th year as a solo artist, Sir Paul McCartney weighs in with an extraordinary 3-DVD set that covers all the bases. The first two discs compile his music videos, spanning 1970’s “Heart of the Country” from his self-titled debut to 2005’s “Fine Line.” Playable in a sequence…
Beside The Point
Happy holidays to all, from ‘Beside the Point’!
Dukes Facing Criticism for Missing Committee Meeting
Chose San Diego area over Joint Medicaid Reform Legislative Oversight Committee’s first interim meeting
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tim Burton’s adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim classic shows just how dull violent retribution can be when it’s all someone ever talks (or, in this case, sings) about.
Letters @ 3AM
Steve Erickson’s new novel Zeroville shows what you have to go through to see how monotheism screws up your consciousness
Culture Flash!
Austin prints bought by a Missouri museum, Cookie Ruiz honored, and the city calls for artists’ work
Music DVDs
Ravi Shankar The Concert for World Peace: Live at Royal Albert Hall (A&E) Filmed November 1993 at London’s Royal Albert Hall and originally released in 1995 on audio format, Ravi Shankar’s Concert for World Peace captures the commanding presence of the then-73-year-old sitar virtuoso as he guides the audience through four ragas backed by tabla…
Point Austin: Undue Process
The Griffin decision fails to hold officers accountable
Justice and Worker Safety
Labor leaders and legislators draw attention to court decision they say threatens workers’ ability to sue when injured by negligent employers
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel is brought faithfully to the screen, although the melodramatics of the story’s latter section undercuts the poetic drama of the first half.
After a Fashion
Your Style Avatar kisses and makes up with a certain Downtown club
Arts Review
Part Southern rock opera and part ‘Hamlet,’ Refraction Arts’ comedy is totally captivating and hilarious
Music DVDs
Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 (Rhino) Stars already aligned over 4½ highlight-studded hours on two discs, Blind Faith’s melancholic “Can’t Find My Way Home” nearly eclipses everything that’s come before it on a July Saturday in Chicago. Not only is the reunion of first supergroupers Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton chemistry incarnate – ditto…
Council Passes Ordinance to Lower Race Costs
City will charge 5K and 10K races flat fees for traffic-control plans and barricading
Taare Zameen Par
This new Bollywood picture tells the story of a teacher and his dyslexic student.
The Common Law
Ripped Off During Holiday Shopping
Arts Review
The Texas Choral Consort’s holiday concert was a tale of two choirs: one inspired, the other flat
Music DVDs
Flatt & Scruggs Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show Vol. 3 (Shanachie) Flatt & Scruggs Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show Vol. 4 (Shanachie) The Flatt & Scruggs TV shows were immensely popular throughout the South from the mid-1950s until 1969, when the guitar/banjo duo broke up. Taken from recently discovered…
Talking With Tribeca
Jon Gartenberg, short documentary and experimental film programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival, talks about what attracted him to “Native New Yorker”: “I am a film historian, and I’ve been watching silent films for a long time, and I can tell when something is very uniquely created, and that was my first response to Steve’s…
Happenings
Dec. 20-26
New Year’s Eve Dining & Lodging
It’s time to start making reservations, party people
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The virtual improbability of online coupling, Picasso’s superstitious aversion to charity, and more
Music DVDs
Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ray Price Last of the Breed: Live in Concert (A&E) Documenting the final performance of the Last of the Breed Tour at the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont, Ill., March 2007, this 35-song show from these Country Music Hall of Famers is a throwback in more ways than one. Though the trio…
Health Woes for First Responders
Katherine Kirkland, executive director of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, speaks about monitoring the health of first responders: “AOEC is a network of clinics throughout the United States. One of our main clinics is Mount Sinai in NYC, and in post-9/11, when it began to become apparent to the physicians at Mount Sinai…
Parking Enterprise
If approved, Parking Enterprise Fund Resolution will invest in garages available to public, with revenues providing funding for transit, trails, sidewalks, and bike paths
Wish List
Give ‘Til It Helps, Part 2
Off the Record
Gary Clark Jr. becomes a Honeydripper, Tee Double sounds off on Kinetic Global, Future Clouds & Radar charts, and yet another Austin Music Hall progress report
Music DVDs
Performaces by Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, “Sweets” Edison, Ella Fitzgerald, The Duke Ellington Trio, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Joe Pass
Rally ‘Round the Writers
Local WGA members take part in Day of Action
Green Vs. Greenbacks: What about affordable housing?
What city will do with affordable housing funds generated by treatment plant’s redevelopment still up in air
Food-o-File
Look local for the holidays, Christmas Day dining at Manny Hattan’s, and more
Music DVDs
AC/DC Plug Me In (Columbia) “I can’t see an end to it. It’s like infinity rock,” grins Bon Scott during an interview for Australian Music to the World series, circa 1978, less than two years before the AC/DC frontman’s untimely death. The Aussie quintet sprung from its native underground with a blues-based blitzkrieg of nitroglycerin…
Music DVDs
Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies Special Edition (MVD Visual) For his senior film, NYU student Todd Phillips filmed GG Allin being released from jail, onstage, and back to jail over the course of the early 1990s. Phillips went on to make stoner-friendly movies like Old School and Road Trip, but Hated was a…
What’s It Good For?
Kevin Booth examines our country’s disastrous War on Drugs in a new documentary
Strategy for Saving Low-Performing High Schools
AISD drafting strategic response to performance issues at its high school campuses
Restaurant Reviews
Along with a name change, TRIO at the Four Seasons on Lady Bird Lake has reinvented itself in ambience, decor, menu, and wine list
Music DVDs
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Runnin’ Down a Dream (Warner Bros.) Tom Petty is the Ralph Nader of rock & roll, a true consumer advocate. And his Heartbreakers – Mike Campbell (guitar), Benmont Tench (keys), Ron Blair (bass), Steve Ferrone (drums), and multi-instrumentalist Scott Thurston – have withstood more than most could stomach. Director Peter…
Music DVDs
Ghostland Observatory Live From Austin TX (New West) This wasn’t Ghostland Observatory’s first time on the Austin City Limits stage. That honor occurred in March on a live broadcast for KEXP, but this was the local duo’s first full concert for an international television audience, and there are a few moments during the opening bleeps…
Austin Film Critics Association Announces Top Pic(k)s
The AFCA anoints There Will Be Blood best film of the year
@ Chronic
Texas Republicans hail Hammer in response to AG opinion on powers of House Speaker Craddick
Restaurant Reviews
Lobby Lounge at the Four Seasons Monday-Thursday, 1pm-1am; Friday-Saturday, 11am-2am; Sunday, 10am-12mid You just can’t talk about the Four Seasons in Austin without mentioning the Lobby Lounge. A sprawling expanse of comfy conversation areas adjacent to the hotel lobby, this is unquestionably one of the best bars (with some of the best bartenders) in the…
Music DVDs
Bob Dylan The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1965 (Columbia/Legacy) A restless generation looked into the mirror and saw Bob Dylan reflected back, brilliantly articulating its social concerns, moral outrage, and dreams of a better world to come. That was 1963. Two short years later, when his fans looked…
Music DVDs
The Flaming Lips U.F.O.s at the Zoo: The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City (Warner Bros.) The Flaming Lips’ first live DVD is an appropriately extravagant affair, a two-hour celebration of the band’s notoriously elaborate shows. Recorded at the Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre, the 2006 hometown performance magnifies every live Lips trick, from the fan-trotting hamster…
The Insiders
Meet City Hall’s local candidates for city manager
Harmonic Distortion
Malekko Heavy Industry’s guitar pedals of mass distortion
Music DVDs
Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan: Cowboy Jack Clement’s Home Movies (Shout! Factory) “It ain’t got no plot to it at all, just life flowin’ by at 6 miles an hour,” offers Cowboy Jack Clement of this surrealistic collage of home movies, interviews, and bizarre skits. Although the producer and songwriter’s career mirrors some…
Music DVDs
U2 Popmart: Live From Mexico City (Universal/Island) “A monument to trash and supermarket culture,” explains U2 manager Paul McGuinness during one of four superfluous documentaries on a second disc of extras. “That’s why we called the tour ‘Popmart.'” That doesn’t explain why the Irish quartet is dressed like an electronica version of the Village People…
The Search Timeline
In January, Arcus will provide the City Council with the complete list of external applicants for the city manager post. A confidentiality agreement with Arcus covers the master list of applicants (for protection in their current employment), but according to Mayor Will Wynn, whose office is directing the search, “Once we choose the semifinalists ……
Charlie Wilson’s War
Despite a script by Aaron Sorkin, direction by Mike Nichols, and star turns by Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, this good-natured geopolitical romp falls flat.
Drug War Blowback
Drug-raid tactics come under increasing scrutiny
Music DVDs
The Holy Modal Rounders Bound to Lose(Badbird) The Holy Modal Rounders were an anomaly: too weird for the NYC folk scene they inhabited in the early 1960s, too unconventional to be considered a straight-ahead rock or psych band. Perhaps that’s why Bound to Lose is so bittersweet. Beginning with the genesis of fiddler Pete Stampfel…
Music DVDs
Opry Video Classics (Time Life) This superb 8-DVD collection gathers 120 video performances from the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts of the 1950s through 1970s, most of which were captured on the stage of the Mother Church – the Ryman Auditorium – and have never before been commercially available. All the legends are accounted for, including…
Candidate Dossiers
Laura Huffman Assistant City Manager – Bachelor of Science, political science, 1989, Texas A&M, College Station; master’s, public affairs, 1991, LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT-Austin – Auditor, city of Austin, 1990-1992 – Executive assistant to city manager, city of Austin, 1992-1994 – Deputy city manager, city of San Marcos, 1994-2002 – Assistant city manager,…
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Taking cues from Ray and Walk the Line, this comedy biopic spans 70 years in the life of its hero, the fictional music legend Dewey Cox.
The Trail of Dead
Executing a warrant at a private residence is among the most risky of all police operations, because it’s almost impossible to know what lies behind a closed door. Although many police agencies believe the SWAT-style “dynamic entry” is essential to the effective service of both “knock and announce” and “no knock” drug warrants, the practice…
Music DVDs
Stax Records Roundup
Music DVDs
Oasis Lord Don’t Slow Me Down (Hip-O) The sun set long ago on the bombastic panache of Oasis. Manchester’s Gallagher lads were slated to live forever on cigarettes, alcohol, fisticuffs, and “Wonderwall.” Anthemic and quarrelsome, Oasis haughtily inhabited a prewar decade when where, what, and why were less intriguing than “Why not?” Depressingly, that stadium-filling…
Appeals Court Rules Against WilCo Constable: The fight continues
Constable Gary Griffin’s attorney: ‘This case is not over.’
P.S. I Love You
Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank needs to call her agent before getting involved in any more romantic codswallop like this.
The Hightower Report
Free Market Hypocrites; and Lobbyists Go Shopping
Music DVDs
The Beatles Help! (Capitol) Though not as fresh and forward-looking as A Hard Day’s Night, the Beatles’ newly restored sophomore cinematic romp is nevertheless visually breathtaking. Watching the Liverpudlian quartet circa 1965 come alive again on rich color film stock reaffirms the group’s once-in-a-lifetime magnetism. After capturing the essence of Beatlemania in AHDN, returning director…
Page Two: Constitutionally Sound
At its best, the government is an exploding, bloated, graceless machine. That just means it’s working.
Politics Gift Guide Part II
More creative shopping suggestions from the Chronicle News staff
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
This adventure fantasy about a boy’s involvement with a mysterious animal is also a period story about childhood anxieties.
The Beating of Joseph Cruz: APD Video
Gary Griffin’s in-car video from his confrontation with Joseph Cruz
TV Eye
NBC late-night hosts Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will return to the air in early 2008; also, ‘TV Eye’ eyes the Golden Globe noms
Music DVDs
Ramones It’s Alive: 1974-1996 (Rhino) From black-and-white video of a young band arguing onstage at CBGB in 1974 to an automatic stadium show more than 20 years later in Buenos Aires, It’s Alive is the holy grail of filmed Ramones’ performances. Over two discs, Dee Dee barks, “1-2-3-4!” almost as many times as Al Pacino…
Day Trips
The Hill Country Regional Christmas Lighting Trail dresses 11 Central Texas communities in glowing finery
IBIZ Districts: Voting local with holiday dollars
Keep Austin weird by shopping locally
The Great Debaters
Denzel Washington directs and stars in this inspirational but predictable drama set in the Jim Crow South of the Thirties.
Reflections in a Blank Wall
Florian Slotawa’s exhibition tells us more about Arthouse than the artist
UT College of Fine Arts: Dempster named dean
After running UT’s College of Fine Arts for a year, interim Dean Doug Dempster has gotten the job for keeps
Music DVDs
Nirvana Unplugged in New York (Universal) “‘Hurry up’? Is that what you said?” Kurt Cobain quizzes a holler. Fourteen years after its original airdate (Dec. 14, 1993, four months before the grunge god pulled the trigger), MTV’s most popular acoustic trip hits DVD. Performing only one of Nirvana’s hits (“Come as You Are”), Unplugged in…
Playing Through
On baseball juicers and the president: Get away with whatever you can
Return to ACC’s Room 221: Mercury or mystery?
Some ACC employees worry mercury still pollutes classroom that has been subject of legal wrangling over past decade
The Walker
Woody Harrelson stars as a professional escort for political wives in this Paul Schrader movie about sex, murder, scandal, and adultery in Washington, D.C.
Readings
This massive biography of Allen Ginsberg, lovingly assembled by Ginsberg’s archivist, is a laborious read, at once fascinating and discomfiting
Gibbs Milliken In Memoriam
Gibbs Milliken, one of the UT Art Department’s most adventurous instructors, has passed away at age 71
Music DVDs
Pearl Jam Immagine in Cornice (Monkey Wrench/Rhino) Put “A Film by” above the title, and said director better deliver. Danny Clinch does, Pearl Jam’s week of shows in Italy, 2006, taking in a modest amount of native scenery and backstage revelations. Eddie Vedder touring the enormous church in minuscule Pistoia adds flavor to moments with…
Soccer Watch
Wake Forest wins NCAA men’s title, and more
Naked City
Quote of the Week “I have learned from my service over the decades that the first, last, and most important responsibility of the district attorney is to put the interests of the children first. As long as that can be done, I am confident that the [new] district attorney will be fully capable of sorting…
Juno
This indie comedy is funny, smart, cool, and heartfelt, and features breakout showcases for star Ellen Page and screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Luv Doc Recommends: Armadillo Christmas Bazaar
If you’re unable to spend Christmas in Vegas, try not to be pissy about it. Neither did Jesus, and he had crazy connections. Besides, plenty of people manage to make do with Austin’s relatively amateurish attempts at garishness and schmaltz. We have 37th Street, a dazzling ode to excess that’s just a few bong hits…
