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Celebration Day

The Rolling Stones Charlie Is My Darling (ABKCO) The moment remains unwittingly staged, a look through the cracked glass so darkly it’s almost breathtaking. Brian Jones, debonair and self-important as the bandleader, stares at the camera, declaring: “The future as a Rolling Stone is very uncertain.” Uncertain, of course, for Jones, who drowned in A.A.…

by Margaret Moser

Celebration Day

The Who Live in Texas ’75 (Eagle Rock) Thin Lizzy Live at the National Stadium Dublin (Universal UK) By mid-decade, the Seventies had broken free of its damaged and idealistic predecessor to pound out peak work by groups born of the Sixties – Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and The Who by Numbers, to name but…

by Raoul Hernandez

Civics 101

Sunday 23 TRAIL OF LIGHTS The traditional holiday display came back this year after a two-year hiatus, but tonight’s your last chance to see it. The Zilker Holiday Tree stays open from 6pm to midnight every night through Dec. 31. Zilker Park, 2100 Barton Springs Rd., 974-6700. www.austintrailoflights.org. Tuesday 25 CHRISTMAS DAY Schools, city offices,…

by Chronicle Staff

Reefer Breakthrough: What Happens Next?

The air was cold enough under the Space Needle just after midnight on Dec. 6 that the collected breath of the crowd turned to steam in the air. But that wasn’t the only thing sending plumes skyward: It was the day that Washington’s Initiative 502, the successful ballot referendum to legalize, tax, and regulate recreational…

by Jordan Smith

Celebration Day

LCD Soundsystem Shut Up and Play the Hits (Pulse) Four hours, three encores, an endless slew of guests, and one dress code – black and white and nothing in between. I was in attendance at LCD Soundsystem’s Madison Square Garden curtain call in April 2011 and can say with some certainty that the only thing…

by Chase Hoffberger

The Luv Doc: Are Americans Crazy or Just Stupid?

Dear LuvDoc, Why are crazy people allowed to buy assault weapons in America? Is it because Americans are crazy, or is it because they’re just stupid? – Donal Here in America, Donal, we have a little thing called the Second Amendment. It says that because a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a…

by The Luv Doc

Exhibitionism

Texas Early Music Project conducted a fast-paced tour of Europe via carols you don’t hear every holiday

by Adam Roberts

Celebration Day

Mudhoney Live in Berlin 1988 (!K7/Sub Pop) Here comes sickness. Three years before Nirvana broke Nevermind in 1991, Mudhoney shipped out to the annual Berlin Independence Days Festival, a bellwether for the burgeoning scene in the Pacific Northwest. While only one midrange camera captured the 40-minute industry showcase, the audio belongs in Seattle’s Experience Music…

by Austin Powell

The Guilt Trip

Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen are a mother and son on a road trip but the humor’s mostly on autopilot.

by Louis Black

Quote of the Week

“Without some sort of public assistance, these events don’t work.” – Richard Suttle, seeking City Council endorsement to extract millions more in state funding for four upcoming events at the Circuit of the Americas

by Chronicle Staff

Celebration Day

The Replacements Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements (What Were We Thinking) Can a documentary on a band be successful if it doesn’t include anyone from the group or any of the band’s music? Maybe I’m the same geek for the Replacements as the multitude of voices and talking heads director Gorman Bechard…

by Jim Caligiuri

Celebration Day

Mott the Hoople The Ballad of Mott the Hoople (Start Productions) Mott the Hoople was a force of rock & roll without direction, and while this documentary arrives loaded with flaws, it threads a narrative through the British band’s numerous twists and turns in the early Seventies. Even if The Ballad of… never allows its…

by Doug Freeman

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was a pig’s head prepared with mustard. It wasn’t until 1917 that Joyce C. Hall of the Hall­mark Com­pany introduced a thicker paper with holiday designs to replace tissue paper for wrapping presents. The Latin alphabet lacks a letter for the English sound “th,” so early writers borrowed…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Celebration Day

Jerry Jeff Walker Live from Dixie’s Bar & Bus Stop (May6) If you lived in mid-Eighties Austin, you might recall a cable TV show called Dixie’s Bar and Bus Stop. Taped at a studio on East Fifth Street, its more than 70 episodes featured country/roots artists from Texas. Jerry Jeff Walker’s set, the first in…

by Jim Caligiuri

Celebration Day

Etta James Live at Montreux 1993 (Eagle Rock) Don’t be fooled by the title. This single DVD goes well beyond 1993, serving as a kind of career retrospective for the late R&B singer, whose life was as tough as her music. Etta James reaped most of her hits by the Sixties, evidenced in set lists…

by Margaret Moser

Meal Times

� Miracle on Fourth Street Food Drive Hangar Lounge encourages patrons to belly up to the bar with a contribution of at least five nonperishable food items or a cash contribution to benefit the Capital Area Food Bank in return for raffle tickets and a drink voucher. The festive evening will include photos with Santa,…

by Chronicle Staff

Celebration Day

Mutantes: Punk, Porn, Feminism (Solaris Distribution) The opening credits haven’t fully dimmed when Virginie Despentes’ latest documentary flashes its first S&M clip. The scene unfolds low-lit, jarring, and without introduction or explanation, and it’s indicative of the DVD as a whole. Mutantes: Punk, Porn, Feminism then follows the rise of pro-sex feminism through the Eighties…

by Abby Johnston

Celebration Day

The Beach Boys Doin’ It Again (UME) In an uncertain world, it’s comforting to know Mike Love continues ruining things for everybody. After the surviving Beach Boys reunited to reverse decades of embarrassing returns with this summer’s That’s Why God Made the Radio and a 50th anniversary tour, Love resumed touring this fall alongside Bruce…

by Greg Beets

Turns Out the Title Wasn’t Prophetic

When he was 20 years old, future Saturday Night Live writer and comedian Tom Schiller was traveling and living in Europe trying desperately to be an artist … of some kind. “It was kind of pathetic, and laughable in retrospect,” said Schiller in a recent email interview. “All I knew was one of the components…

by Ashley Moreno

Oops!

In the first part of our legislative preview, (“Will Texas Do Better?,” News, Dec. 7), covering the landscape for women’s health issues under the dome in 2013, we incorrectly referred to Sen. Dan Patrick’s SB 97 as requiring a doctor to administer an abortion-inducing drug in person, contrary to FDA guidelines. In fact, FDA guidelines…

by Chronicle Staff

Celebration Day

The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (Apple/EMI) Unlike theatrical releases A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, Magical Mystery Tour could originally be seen only on the BBC. Loosely directed by Paul McCartney, it’s a reflection of the times – 1967’s Summer of Love – so psychedelic touches abound, and trying to make sense of “I Am…

by Jim Caligiuri

Headlines

› The next regular City Council meeting is Jan. 17, meaning it’s time to enjoy the Trail of Lights and Austin New Year before returning to vexed questions like strained budgets, affordable housing, and even (could it be?) the Year of Mass Transit. Last week’s farewell featured a parting gift to the Circuit of the…

by Chronicle Staff

Celebration Day

Led Zeppelin Celebration Day (Atlantic) “DUN DUN.” You already know what’s happening. “DUN DUN.” A cavalcade of snares and cymbals ruptures London’s O2 Arena. Jason Bonham looks fresh, clean, and angry at his drum kit. Page, Plant, and Jones circle each other in sharp angles, heaving a few oh-shit breaths. Thousands of December 2007 showgoers…

by Luke Winkie

Endgame

Nigel O’Hearn terminates Palindrome Theatre after three years, just as planned

by Dan Solomon

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