Cover Story
Savannah Welch a Year Later
After losing her leg, the Trishas singer revisits the accident and her blessings
Free Kwanzaa Celebration at George Carver Museum
Elizabeth Kahura explains the principles and food behind the holiday
Top 10 LGBTQ Victories of 2017
“The things that make us different, those are our superpowers”
Your Austin New Year’s Eve Guide
These are the many ways to say goodbye to 2017
Austin’s Funniest People Recap 2017
The Year In Review, just as it says on the tin. You know, the tin.
Three Standout Queer New Year’s Eve Events
Because we all fought for our right to party this year
Holiday Viewing: The Thin Man
A merry, blotto Christmas (mind the dead body in the bedroom)
Holiday Viewing: A Christmas Carol
In this season of giving, who is the best Scrooge?
Christmas Dining in Austin
Here are your last minute dining recommendations, slackers
Holiday Viewing: Silent Night, Deadly Night
When your Christmas nightmares come true
Day Trips & Beyond: New Year’s Eve 2017 Around Texas
Ringing in the new year across the Lone Star State
Pitch Perfect 3
Third time really isn’t the charm for the Bellas
Downsizing
Alexander Payne creates a small word with big ambitions
All the Money in the World
Christopher Plummer mesmerizes as the greediest man alive
Molly’s Game
Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut plays a high stakes game with Jessica Chastain
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
The engineering secrets of a Hollywood great
The Greatest Showman
Don’t be fooled by this whitewashed version of the great huckster
Call Me by Your Name
Tenderness comes in many tongues in this coming-of-age romance
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
High adventure and fun times in an unexpectedly entertaining sequel
Holiday Viewing: Christmas in Connecticut
It’s a wonderful lie
Gay Place
A long December
Texas Platters
This impeccable mod-rock trio oozes gothic-cloaked high drama cut with fuzz-bang firepower and a strategic twist of pop smarts. Bandleader Carson Barker draws carefully from each element, instilling Schisms’ first full-length with a cinematic worldview that avoids the trap of pastiche. High desert meets old country on “Bibles and Torahs” as Barker bellows jet-black invective…
A Grisly Weekend for APD
Two officer-involved shootings, one viral use of force
The End of the Free and Open Internet?
Austin’s creative class worries what the FCC net neutrality ruling means for life online
Playback: Best Austin Music Controversies of 2017
The year in quarrel
Wish List: Still Time for Year-End Giving
The growing list lives online
Zach Theatre’s A Christmas Carol
This slick and polished musical adaptation of the Dickens classic serves up holiday cheer in abundance
Beside the Point: What a Mess
Police impasse throws city system into disarray
The Hideout Theatre’s Local on the Eights
Improvised local news for the fictional town of DeWitt turned up some big stories (and funny ones) before and behind the camera
Quote of the Week: Kathy Mitchell
Community activist speaks on life after meet-and-confer
“Naomi Schlinke: What You See” at Flatbed
The vibrant colors, organic forms, and transparency in the show’s captivating ink on paper works offer exotic archipelagos to explore
Headlines
There’s No City Council meeting this week, and that’s probably for the best. Members have already spent more than enough time in chambers over the past week sorting through the city manager selection, police contract, and much more. “Council: And to All a Good Night,” Dec. 22. Spencer Cronk will be Austin’s new city manager.…
Who Knew Eating Chicken Heads Would Be So Satisfying?
A list of some of Austin’s offal offerings
Day Trips: River Trail Cottages, Kerrville
Old-fashioned motor court has new life with modern amenities
Fear & Loathing
Travis County says goodbye to a coyote-killing machine
Review: Le Politique
Austin’s newest Downtown French brasserie holds court
Art in Public Places’ Wander
This interactive public artwork creates narrative pathways for you to travel in Downtown Austin
ICYMI: Din Ho Chinese BBQ
The holiday season just isn’t the same without Chinese barbecue
Seen / Soon: Dec. 22
Getting down to earth with Wangechi Mutu’s solo show and easing into New Year’s with a Hideout improv sampler
Austin Women: Underrepresented and Underpaid
City commissions bring Council recommendations for improving gender equality
Texas Platters
What does it say about Austin’s Pocket Fishrmen that the best LP of their 30-year career defies standard logic? You can’t really call The Greatest Story Ever Told either an anthology or a greatest hits package, because it consists of new recordings from the acid-punk oddballs’ catalog. Nevertheless, spread across a 14-song vinyl LP and…
Where to See Christmas Classics on the Big Screen in Austin
Here’s your cure for cabin fever and forced family bonding
Life After Meet-and-Confer
City, police get ready for civil service
Texas Platters
Since 2010, Exploded Drawing parties have enticed off-kilter electronic producers out of their bedrooms and into dark warehouses. Their signature “beat music” mixes of J Dilla, Flying Lotus, and DJ Shadow drop everything in a lo-fi blender and result in playful synth noodle sessions over cobwebbed samples and head-nodding kicks. Their seventh-anniversary comp on splattered…
What’cha Watchin’?
Get in the spirit of the season with these holiday movie recommendations
State Capitol Sexual Abuse Policies Remain a Work in Progress
After flood of allegations, House and Senate pressed to revise rules
Texas Platters
Ray Prim’s latest, the soulful and grounded To Whom It May Concern, is a well-produced and efficient work of an exceptionally self-aware man, conscious of his strengths and how to properly utilize them. “My young days are gone, let’s call it like it is,” he admits on country-fried “Find a Suit.” However, it’s not a…
Meet Our Revolution’s New Class of Bernie Spin-Offs
Can they turn Texas blue?
Public Notice: Peace on Earth, Good Will to Most
A final look forward at the start of the end of the CodeNEXT process
Texas Platters
On 2016’s Innocent Victims and Evil Companions, Bill Carter enlisted nearly every A-list talent in Austin. Here, the pivotal songwriter strips down for his eponymous 10th LP. Consider it a reintroduction. He leads with his biggest hit, “Crossfire,” re-molded from the familiar Stevie Ray Vaughan blast into an aching plea. Likewise, “Willie the Wimp” burns…
Weed Classes Now Shorter
County commissioners approve four-hour cite-and-release class
Texas Platters
Re-enlivened by their 2011 Austin Music Hall of Fame induction, these Sixties psych rock gladiators swing for the rafters again like the shoulder-chipped opening act they spent much of their career being. Original guitarist/vocalist Rod Prince and drummer David Fore enlist guitarists Gregg Stegall and Mark Miller, and bassist Jimi Umstattd for this live studio…
(Blake) Farenthold Your Nose
Are we finally done with the congressman?
Texas Platters
This nearly decade-old, 10-piece Austin ensemble of Jewish music traditionalists breathes new life and a modern sensibility into music that originated with Eastern European Jews and is generally known as klezmer. Without forfeiting the ecstatic joy or soulful poignancy of the source material, MTKH makes this generous 16-track collection and debut come alive with fresh…
Spencer Cronk Named City Manager
Minneapolis city coordinator selected Tuesday by City Council
The Luv Doc: Sacrifice
It’s always best to seize the moral high ground
Texas Platters
Stepping out from his raucous garage roots quintet the Lost Knobs, Wild Bill taps his inner Frank Zappa for solo debut Fighting for the Title. Nominally a concept album of a boxer’s beatdown and return, the gorgeous marbled vinyl plays better if you don’t think about it too much. Side A opens impressive with a…
Council: And to All a Good Night
Last regular meeting reprises a very difficult year
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
5,415 men have served in the Texas Legislature – compared to just 155 women. According to a recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences, 80% of North Americans have X-ray evidence of osteoarthritis by age 65, and 60% have significant joint pain. The endangered eastern indigo snake is nonvenomous and can grow up…
Texas Platters
Unfolding eight tracks, the high-energy self-titled debut from local trio Queue Queue deftly flits between a grungy crunch, Velvet Underground guitar lines, and spacey shoegaze. The ambient, amorphous “Look Out” skews hypnotic and mostly instrumental with a hushed refrain of “look out,” then a sleepy description of the view of Dallas from above. Anchoring the…
Champion Tract Hoax
Developer’s attorney falls for fake website
Indicted Former Firefighter’s Court Hearing Postponed
Jim Baker’s court appearance rescheduled for Jan. 17
